Letter 704: The governor took part in your festival in the same way I did -- he missed nothing I had heard.

The governor took part in your festival in the same way I did -- he missed nothing I had heard. When he learned about the armor, the sacrifices, the expense, and the splendor that ran through everything, he was so delighted -- rejoicing with both the priest and the city -- that he said the emperor himself would hear of what you have done. What pleased him most was that you, alone and unaided, managed the recovery of the cult statue. Diomedes, after all, needed Odysseus [a reference to the theft of the Palladion from Troy -- Bacchius managed his recovery solo]. Through me, he now encourages you to restore the temple as well. He has already proclaimed that everyone may reclaim what is rightfully theirs, and he stands ready to cry out against any wrong done to the sacred precinct -- and to act on it.

Βακχίῳ. (362) Ὅνπερ ἐγὼ τρόπον, τοῦτον ὁ ἄρχων μετέσχε τῆς πὰρ ὑμῖν ἑορτῆς· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἠγνόησεν ὧν ᾔδειν ἐγώ. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῶν τεθυμένων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης δαπάνης καὶ τῆς διὰ πάντων ἀκούων λαμπρότητος οὕτως ἥσθη τε καὶ συνήσθη τῷ τε ἱερεῖ καὶ τῇ πόλει, ὥστε ἔφησε τῶν πεπραγμέ- νων πρὸς αὐτὸν μεμνήσεσθαι τὸν βασιλέα. μάλιστα δὲ αὐτὸν εὔφρανεν, ὅτι εἷς ὢν ἤρκεσας εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἀγάλματος κλοπήν. Διομήδει δὲ ἄρα καὶ Ὀδυσσέως ἔδει. καί σε ἐπεγείρει δι’ ἐμοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τὸν νεὼν ὁμοῦν πάλαι μὲν πᾶσι κηρύξας κομί- ζεσθαι τὰ αὑτῶν, ἕτοιμος δὲ ὢν ὅ τι ἂν μηνύσῃς ἠδικημένον τὸν τόπον, καὶ βοήσεσθαι καὶ βοηθήσειν.