Letter 285: In other things I would yield to you, but in this contest I won long ago by doing what a friend should -- back when...

To Acacius. (361?) In other things I would yield to you, but in this contest I won long ago by doing what a friend should -- back when you were raising every kind of outcry so as not to be stripped of these things, while I, having been stripped of mine, kept silent. But I think you are also aware of the sequel, in which I praised you while everyone praised me -- because I championed you and your contests. You sent your letter first, but I wrote mine. If one was hasty and the other slow, that is not how true feeling should be judged. How I received the admirable Eutropius -- learn that from him, along with what I was planning to do and how I was overcome by Eubulus. For Eubulus, I think, must prevail in everything.

Ἀκακίῳ. (361?) Τῶν μὲν ἄλλων εἴξαιμ᾿ ἄν σοι, ταύτην δέ σε νενίκηκα τὴν νίκην πίλαι τὰ φίλου πεποιηκώς, ὅτε πάσας ἀφῆκας φωνάς, ὅπως μὴ ταῦτα ἀφαι·ρεθείης ὧν αὐτὸς στερηθεὶς ἐσί- γων. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τὰ δεύτερά μοι δοκεῖς ἀγνοεῖν, οἷς σὲ μὲν ἐγώ, πάντες δὲ ἐπῄνουν ἐμέ, διότι σὲ καὶ τοὺς σοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐγώ. γράμματα δὲ σὺ μὲν ἔπεμψας πρότερος, ἔγραψα δὲ ἐγώ. εἰ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἠπείχθη, τὰ δὲ ἐμέλλησεν, οὐ τούτῳ γε ἡ γνώμη κρίνεται. τὸν καλὸν Εὐτρόπιον ὅπως εἶδον, παρ’ ἐκείνου μάνθανε καὶ τί ποιεῖν ἐγνωκὼς ὅπως ἡττήθην Εὐβούλου· δεῖ γὰρ Εὔβουλον, οἶμαι, πάντα νικᾶν.