Letter 612: If I knew how to revolve around the doors of the powerful, I would myself be one of the powerful.

To Modestus. If I knew how to dance attendance at the doors of the powerful, I too would be among the powerful; but as it is I am weak, yet I am in no way ashamed, but singing is enough for me, as it is for the nightingale. I did not think I ought to send you many letters, since you are both transacting many affairs and receiving many letters; for to ships already weighed down one ought not to add cargoes. But since you desire abundance, know that you are summoning a Lydian into the plain. For the letter which you sent to Acacius I am grateful to you, for it showed the man who was in earnest and wished to see the work done, whereas another would have discharged his duty for form's sake and gone his way. But concerning the colonnade [stoa] you must consider how something favorable may be said about it, and that you do not, by seeming to gratify Dionysus, grieve the father of Dionysus, namely Zeus.

Μοδέστῳ. (361) Εἰ περὶ τὰς τῶν δυνατῶν ἠπιστάμην στρέφεσθαι θύρας, ἦν ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν δυνατῶν· νῦν δέ εἰμι μὲν ἀσθενής, αἰσχύνομαι δὲ οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλ’ ἀρκεῖ μοι τὸ ᾄδειν, ὥσπερ τῇ ἀηδόνι. γράμματα δέ σοι πέμπειν πολλὰ οὐκ ᾠήθην δεῖν πολλὰ μὲν πράττοντι πράγματα, πολλὰ δὲ δεχομένῳ γράμ- ματα· τοῖς γάρ τοι βαρυνομένοις τῶν πλοίων οὐ δεῖ προστι- θέναι φορτία· ἐπεὶ δὲ πλήθους ἐπιθυμεῖς, Λυδὸν εἰς πεδίον ἴσθι προκαλούμενος. τῆς μὲν οὖν ἐπιστολῆς, ἣν πρὸς Ἀκάκιον ἔπεμψας, οἶδά σοι χάριν, ἐδείκνυ γὰρ τὸν ἐσπουδα- κότα καὶ βουλόμενον ἔργον ἰδεῖν, ἄλλος δ’ ἂν ἀφοσιωσάμενος ἀπηλλάγη· περὶ δὲ τῆς στοᾶς σοι σκεπτέον, ὅπως εὔφημόν τι λέγοιτο περὶ αὐτῆς καὶ μὴ δοκῶν τῷ Διονύσῳ χαρίζεσθαι τὸν πατέρα λυποίης τοῦ Διονύσου τὸν Δία.