Letter 48: It seems we will always have trouble springing from Severus's character, and you will never be free of my letters on...

**To Clearchus** (359 AD) It seems that troubles are forever springing up for us from the behavior of Severus, and you will never be free of letters from us on this subject. For the man is quite simply a Hydra — cut off one head and you fight another, and should you prevail over that one, you will meet a third. I believe that even on his deathbed he would urge his heirs to remember Cleobulus, assuring them they would never lack for money. For even now it is Alexander who raises the outcry, but it is Severus who set him in motion — one man stitched the shoe, but another put it on. We would need the wealth of Gyges if we were to pay off every man who wants his share. For there will always be someone willing, and now it is Alexander who demands payment, but a little later Antipater will come seeking, and Parmenio after him. As for the teacher Cleobulus, he possesses just enough that nothing compels him to any base action, yet not enough to bear unjust losses lightly. So remind Severus — who has conveniently forgotten the terms he agreed to with us — of his commitments, and show him the prison he would rightly inhabit if he does not abide by his agreements. For it would be absurd if people here have been persuaded by us that Clearchus possesses both the judgment to honor justice and the strength to enforce it, only for you then to neglect friends who have been wronged — summoned like Heracles as an ally, only to prove a defense made of fig wood.

Κλεάρχῳ. (359) Ἡμῖν τε, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀεὶ πράγματα ἐκ τῶν Σευήρου τρό- πων ἀναφύεται σοί τε ἀπαλλαγὴ τῶν παρ’ ἡμῶν περὶ τούτων οὐκ ἔσται γραμμάτων. ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἀτεχνῶς ὕδρα, κἂν τέμῃς τὴν κεφαλήν, ἑτέρᾳ μαχῇ κεφαλῇ, κἂν ταύτης κρατῇς, ἐντεύξῃ τρίτῃ. καί μοι δοκεῖ κἂν ἀποθνήσκων παραινέσαι τοῖς κληρονόμοις μεμνῆσθαι Κλεοβούλου, καὶ οὐκ ἀπορήσειν χρημάτων, ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν βοᾷ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος, κεκίνηκε δὲ ἐκεῖνος, καὶ τὸ ὑπόδημα ἄλλος μὲν ἔρραψεν, ἄλλος δὲ ὑπε- δήσατο. δεῖ δὴ τῶν Γύγου χρημάτων ἡμὶν, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ἑκάστῳ δώσειν τῶν βουλομένων λαβεῖν. ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ βουλόμενος ἔστᾶι καὶ νῦν μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος εἰσπράττει, μικρῷ δὲ ὕστερον Ἀντίπατρος ζητήσει καὶ Παρμενίων. Κλεοβούλῳ δὲ τῷ δι- δασκάλω τοσαῦτά ἐστιν, ὅσα τὸν ἄνδρα ποιεῖν μὲν ἀγεννὲς οὐδὲν καταναγκάξει, ζημίας δὲ ἀδίκους εὐχερῶς φέρειν οὐκ ἐᾶ. τὸν οὖν ὧν συνέθετο πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιλελησμένον Σευῆ- ρον ἀναμίμνησκε τῶν συνθηκῶν δεικνὺς ἅμα τὸ δεσμωτή- ριον, ὃ δικαίως ἂν οἰκοίη μὴ τ.ῖς ὁμολογίαις ἐμμένων. καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον τοὺς μὲν τῇδε παρ’ ἡμῶν πεπεῖσθαι τοῦθ’ ὅτι Κλεάρχῳ γνώμη τέ ἐστι τιμῶσα τὰ δίκαια ῥώμη τε ἀρκοῦσα τὰ δίκαια βεβαιοῦν. σὲ δὲ ἀμελῆσαι φίλων ἠδικημένων καὶ καλούμενον ὥσπερ Ἡρακλέα σύμμαχον εἶτα φανῆι βοήθειαν συκίνην.