Letter 570: Fortune did not plan well for you, but you, I think, have planned well for yourself.
Θεμιστίῳ. (357)
Ὁ μὲν δαίμων οὐ καλῶς ὑπὲρ τῶν σῶν ἐβουλεύσατο, σὺ
δέ, οἶμαι, καλῶς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀφῄρηταί σε Θεμίστιον, ὃν ἐγώ
ποτε ταῖς Ἰσοκράτους παραινέσεσιν ἔθρεψα· σὲ δὲ οὐ κατέ-
κλυσεν ἡ συμφορά, μένεις δὲ ἐν τοῖς φιλοσοφίας νόμοις ἀνδρίᾳ
χρώμενος πρὸς τὴν Τύχην.
ἔστι δέ, οἶμαι, τοῦ μέχρι νῦν
ἐνηνοχότος τὸ κακὸν τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ πά-
θος μαλακόν. αἰσχρὸν γὰρ εὐθὺς οὐ προαχθέντα προἰόντος
ἐνδοῦναι τοῦ χρόνου.
τὸν δ’ Ἰάμβλιχον ἔγνως μὲν ἐλθὼν
ὡς ἡμᾶς ἀγαθόν, εὖ ποίει δὲ νῦν ὡς ἄνδρα ἀγαθόν. μεγίστη
δὲ εὐεργεσία φίλον τε σαυτοῦ νομίσαι καὶ δεῖξαι τοῖς ἄλλοις,
ὅτι αὐτὸν ἡγοῖο φίλον. πάντως δὲ τὸν ἐξ ἐκείνων παρὰ σοὶ
δεῖ κεκρίσθαι τίμιον, τὸν ἐκ τῶν φιλοσόφων παρὰ τῷ φιλο-
σοφοῦντι.
αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ταῖς τῶν πατέρων ἀρεταῖς σε-
μνύνεται, μεῖζον δέ ἐστιν αὐτῷ τοῦ φῦναι ἐκ τοιούτων τὸ γε-
νέσθαι τούτων ἄξιον. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ λόγων ὅσων ἐπεθύμει
μετέσχεν ὀρφανίᾳ κωλυθείς, ἥ γε φύσις καὶ τὸ τῶν ἠθῶν
γενναῖον φιλοσοφίᾳ πρέποντα.
Related Letters
I am surprised that you sent no letter through Clearchus, nor when Iphicles came from you to us.
I may be meddling when I urge a father to care for a son he has decided to neglect.
I have sent my brother to supplicate the god who dwells near you on my behalf.
Do you not think I would give anything to have delivered that speech with you in the audience?
Epistle 17. To Eusebius, Archbishop of Cæsarea. I did not write in an insolent spirit, as you complain of my letter, but rather in a spiritual and philosophical one, and as was fitting, unless this too wrongs your most eloquent Gregory.