Letter 788

To Hierax. (362/63) I was amazed that you considered my not writing to you worthy of reproach, yet make nothing of the emperor's letter reaching you. And yet I showed what had been written on your behalf, did so four times, and proclaimed that the Troad would suffer terribly, and Alexander too, and the god along with them, if we did not honor Hierax with what the law provides. Saying such things now to Elpidius, now to the best of emperors, I helped arrange the letter you deserved to receive. I do not say this as though the emperor granted this favor to me. He both knows you and honors you and wished to see you. But amid a multitude of affairs, even a lover's attention to the beloved may grow dull. Someone is needed to stir his memory and not let him forget — and that is what I have done. It happened that the one summoning you told us only afterward that he had issued the summons, at a point when we praised the deed but had no opportunity to write. And one could not reproach a man who, deliberating on behalf of all the earth and sea, inadvertently overlooked some small thing. So grant me your pardon too for not hearing at once, and do not suppose that we honor our rhetorical exercises so highly that for their sake we would choose to wrong our friends. For even if we were too few to suffice for both, we would not have neglected the admirable Hierax while prattling about Miltiades or Themistocles.

Ἱέρακι (362/63) Ἐθαύμασα, ὅπως τὸ μὲν μὴ ἐπιστεῖλαί με πρὸς σὲ κατη- γορίας ἄξιον ἡγήσω, τοῦ δ’ ἐλθεῖν σοι τὴν βασιλέως ἐπιστο- λὴν οὐδὲν ἄγεις. καίτοι δεικνὺς ἐγὼ τὰ πρὸς σοι γεγραμμένα καὶ τοῦτο πεποιηκὼς τετράκις καὶ βοῶν ὡς δεινὰ μὲν ἂν ἡ Τρῶάς, δεινὰ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος πάθοι καὶ μετὰ τούτων γε ὁ θεός, εἰ μὴ Ἱέρακα τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ νόμου κοσμήσαιμεν, τοιαῦτα νῦν μὲν πρὸς Ἐλπίδιον λέγων, νῦν δὲ πρὸς τὸν πάντα ἄριστοι βασιλέα τὰ σοὶ πρέποντα συμπαρεσκεύασα γράμματα έλθεῖν. λέγω δὲ οὐχ ὡς ἐμοὶ ταύτην δόντος τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν χάριν, ἀλλὰ σὲ μὲν καὶ εὖ οἶδε καὶ τιμᾷ καὶ ἰδεῖν ἤθελεν· ἐν δ’ αὖ πλήθει πραγμάτων καὶ ἐραστὴς ἀμβλύτερος εἰς ἐρώμενον ἂν εἴη. δεῖ δὴ τοῦ γε κινοῦντος καὶ οὐκ ἐῶντος ἀμνημονεῖν, ὃ καὶ ἐμοὶ πέπρακται. συνέβη δέ πως τὸν σὲ καλοῦντα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὕστερον ὅτι κέκληκεν εἰπεῖν, ἡνίκα τὸ μὲν ἔργον ἐπῃνοῦμεν, ἐπιστέλλειν δὲ οὐκ εἴχομεν. ἐπιτιμᾶν δὲ οὐκ ἦν, εἴ τις ὑπὲρ γῆς ἁπάσης καὶ θαλάττης βουλευόμενος ὑπερέβη τι σμικρὸν ἄκων. δὸς δὴ Λαὶ αὐτός μοι συγγνώμην τῷ μὴ παραχρῆμα ἀκούσαντι καὶ μὴ νόμιζε οὕτω σφόδρα παρ’ ἡμῖν τιμᾶσθαι τὰς μελέτας, ὥσθ’ ἕνεκα αὐτῶν αἱρεῖσθαι τοὺς φίλους ἀδικεῖν. εἰ γὰρ ἐλάττους ἦμεν ἢ ἀρκεῖν ἀμφοτέροις, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἂν ἠμε- λήσαμεν Ἱέρακος τοῦ καλοῦ περὶ Μιλτιάδην ἢ Θεμιστοκλέα ληροῦντες.