Letter 121: When I first heard you'd gone all the way to the Danube itself, where the emperor displayed his arms and humbled the...

**To Priscian** (359/60) At first, when I heard you had gone all the way to the Danube itself — where the emperor, by displaying his arms, crushed the pride of the Scythians — I did not write, for there was no one to carry a letter there. Then word reached me simultaneously that you had returned to the Great City and that you held an office no longer insignificant, since it is you who hold it. For perhaps Achilles is adorned by his full armor, and the craft of Hephaestus is needed — but know well that even if the son of Thetis had put on inferior gear, he himself would have seemed no lesser, while that gear he would have made appear finer. So when we learned of the post you had assumed, we kept expecting you to arrive at any moment, that you were only a short way from our sight, and that a letter was unnecessary. But since you delay, you drive me back to writing once more. So, by Zeus, either appear before us in person, or if you remain where you are, let us know that you are occupied with better things — and cherish Polianus both for his other qualities and for the sake of this letter.

Πρισκιανῷ. (359/60) Ἐγώ σε τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀκούων πρὸς αὐτὸν ἥκειν τὸν Ἴστρον, οὗ βασιλεὺς τὰ ὅπλα δείξας ἐστόρεσε τὸ φρόνημα τῶν Σκυθῶν, οὐκ ἐπέστελλον, οὐ γὰρ ἦν ὁ κομιῶν ἐκεῖσε. εἶθ’ ἡμῖν ὁμοῦ πρός τε τὴν Μεγάλην ἐπανήκειν ἠγγέλλου πόλιν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν τὴν οὐκέτι μικράν, ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὴν ἔχεις. ἴσως μὲν γὰρ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα κοσμεῖ ἡ πανοπλία καὶ τῆς Ἡφαί- στου δεῖ τέχνης, εὖ δὲ ἴσθι, ὅτι κἂν τὰ φαυλότερα θέμενος ὁ τῆς Θέτιδος υἱὸς αὐτὸς μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἔδοξε χείρων, ἐκεῖνα δ’ ἂν ἔδειξε καλλίω. μαθόντες οὖν, εἰς ὃ κατέστης, ἀεί σε προσελαύνειν ἡγούμεθα καὶ μικρὸν ἀπέχειν τῆς θέας καὶ γραμ- μάτων οὐ δεῖν, ἐπεὶ δὲ μέλλεις, πάλιν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸ γράφειν ἄγεις. αὐτὸς δὲ ἡμῖν ἢ φάνηθι, πρὸς Δῖός, ἢ μένων, ὡς ἐπ’ ἀμείνοσι διατρίβεις, μήνυε καὶ τὸν Πωλιανὸν τῶν τε ἄλ- λων εἵνεκα καὶ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς φίλει.