Letter 58

To Themistius. (359/360) Someone came and reported that you had let fall some disparaging remark about me. I did not believe it. Then a second person brought the same story, and I remained unmoved. A third claimed he had actually gotten into a fight defending me against you. This one I took for a lunatic, and his boast about the fight only undermined the story of the slander. For who is so bold as to look Zeus in the face? Apart from all that, it was simply unlikely. At a time when you are doing good to people who were previously hostile, why would you hurt someone you counted among your closest friends -- especially someone who, after the calamities that befell his circle, is little better than a dead man? Just as I refused to believe any of them, let my writing to you be the proof. For I would not have thought it right to bother you if I had become a different kind of man. I do not think you have done any of these things, but I do think you have diminished a great part of the favor you once gave me. For you, who had the power to remove me from my homeland, graciously allowed me to stay -- a very great kindness. But what happened regarding my standing with you has reduced that favor to something small. Priscianus means everything to me, as much as all my household...

**To Themistius** (359/360) Someone came reporting that you had let slip some rather disparaging remark about me. I did not believe it. Then a second person brought the same story, and I remained unchanged. A third claimed he had even come to blows defending me against you. This man I now considered deranged, and I took his boasting about the fight to refute the charge of slander. For who is so bold as to look Zeus in the face? Besides all that, it was not even plausible that you, at a time when you are doing good to those who were formerly hostile, would cause pain to one you counted among your foremost friends — and one who, at that, is scarcely distinguishable from the dead after the misfortunes that have befallen my companions. But since I believed none of those men, let the very fact that I am writing persuade you: for I would never have presumed to trouble a man who had become a stranger. Now, I do not think any of those matters have moved you, but I do think you are taking away the greater part of the favor you granted me. For you, though you had the power to remove me from my homeland, graciously allowed me to stay — and that was the greatest of my blessings here. But you arranged for what mattered most to me to be established among you in Constantinople, and so the favor shrank to a small thing. For Priscianus is everything to me, as much as all my family combined. And this you yourself learned — through messengers when absent, through experience when present. Having resolved, then, to transfer him there, you must have reasoned something like this with yourself: "That great rhetorician must be given to the Great City. But simply ordering him to come running would be crude and heavy-handed — some art is needed. What art, then? Let him be made one of the emperor's circle, and he is caught. For he will walk the road that leads to the noble Senate, and so Themistius shall have his man." Well then — have him and enjoy him, and see to it that he is placed where he deserves and that the soldier does not disgrace his weapons. For he himself has no desire for greater station — it is enough for him to be good. But it would not reflect well on you if you appeared not to recognize his worth. If he should meet the emperor first in your city, you will attend to everything in person. But if he travels to the emperor through your good offices, you will give him letters — and these are no less powerful than your presence. As for me, if anyone should summon me — for the gods' sake, prevent it. My body is not up to it, and my spirit is full of the inertia into which I have fallen, like the beloved of Apollo, who preferred a mortal to the god — Idas over Apollo.

Θεμιστίῳ. (359/360) Ἧκέ τις ἀγγέλλων, ὡς ἀπορρίψειάς τι ῥῆμα περὶ ἐμοῦ φαυλότερον, ἐγὼ δὲ ἠπίστησα. καὶ πάλιν ἕτερος τὸν αὐτὸν ἐκόμιζε λόγον, ἐγὼ δὲ ἦν ὁ αὐτός. τρίτος καὶ διὰ μάχης ἔφασκεν ἐλθεῖν σοι βοηθεῖν ἐμοὶ βουλόμενος. τοῦτον ἤδη καὶ μελαγχολᾶι ἡγούμην κοὶ τῷ περὶ τῆς μάχης κόμπῳ τὸν περὶ τῆς βλασφημίας ἀναιρεῖν λόγον. τίς γὰρ οὕτω θρασὺς ὡς ἀν- τιβλέπειν τῷ Διί; χωρὶς δὲ τούτων οὐδὲ ἦν εἰκός, ἐν ᾧ τοὺς πρὸ τοῦ δυσμενεῖς εὖ ποιεῖς, λυπεῖν ὃν ἐν πρώτοις ἦγες τῶν φίλων καὶ ταῦτα οὐ πολὺ τῶν νεκρῶν διαφέροντα μετὰ τὰς τῶν γνωρίμω. τύχας. ὡς δὲ οὐδενὶ ἐκείνων ἐπειθόμην αὐτό σε πειθέτω τὸ γράφειν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τόν γε ἄλλον γεγενη- μένον ἐνοχλεῖν ἠξίουν. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων οὐδέν σε κεκινη- κεναὶ νομίζω, τῆς χάριτος δὲ ἥν μοι δέδωκας ἀφαιρεῖν τὸ πλέον. σὺ γὰρ δὴ κύριος μὲν ὢν ἀφελεῖν με τῆς πατρί- δος μένειν ἔδωκας εὖ ποιῶν, ὃ μοι τῶν οἴκοι μέγιστον ἦν, ὅπως ἱστᾶι παρ’ ὑμῖν ἔπραξας, καὶ κατῆλθεν εἰς μικρὸν ἡ χάρις. πρισκιανὸς γὰρ ἐμοὶ τὰ πάντα καὶ τοσοῦτον ὅσον οἱ πάντες οἰκεῖοι. καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ἔγνως δι’ ἀγγέλων μὲν ἀπών, τῇ πείρᾳ δὲ ἥκων. τοῦτον δὴ μεταστῆσαι διανοηθεὶς ἐκεῖσε ταυτί που διελέχθης πρὸς σαυτόν τὸν ῥήτορα ἐκεῖνον τὸν μέγαν τῇ Μεγάλῃ πόλει δοτέον. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἁπλῶς οὑτωσὶ κελεύειν τρέχειν σκαιόν τικαὶ βίαιον, δεὶ δέ τινος τέχνης. τίς οὖν αὕτη; γε νέσθω τῶν ἀμφὶ βασιλέα καὶ τεθήραται. βαδιεῖται γὰρ τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν γενναίαν βουλὴν ἄγουσαν καὶ. οὕτως ἕξει τὰ τοῦ δεῖνος Θεμίστιος. ἔχε δὴ καὶ ἀπόλαυε καὶ σκόπει, πῶς ἂν ἐν ᾧπερ ἄξιον γένοιτο καὶ μὴ καταισχύνειε τὰ ὅπλα τὸν στρατιώτην. τῷ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπιθυμία τοῦ μείζονος. ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸ εἶναι ἀγαθόν. ὑμῖν δὲ οὐκ ἆν ἔχοι καλῶς, εἰ δόξετε τὴν αξίαν ἀγνοεῖν. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρ’ ῦμῖν συμβάλ- λοὶ τὸ πρῶτον τῷ βασιλεῖ, τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιμελήσῃ παρών· δι᾿ ὑμῶν δὲ ὡς αὐτὸν ἐλαύνοντι γράμματα δώσεις, ταυτὶ δὲ οὐκ ἀσθενέστερα παρουσίας. ἐμὲ δὲ εἰ τις μεταπέμποιτο, πρὸς θεῶν, κωλύειν. οὔτε γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει μοι τὸ σῶμα μεστή τε ἀργίας ἡ γνώμη δι᾿ ἣν ἣν εἰς τὴν ἀτοπίαν ἐμπέπτωκα τῆς Ἀπόλλωνος ἐρωμένης, ἣ τοῦ θεοῦ προὔθηκεν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τὸν Ἴδαν.