Letter 77: To the same person. (359)

**To the same correspondent.** (359) You urged me to speak freely, promising you would bear whatever I might say. But Aeschylus warns me off, declaring that the lesser must not speak boldly. And Euripides too says that the high and mighty — meaning, I take it, people like you — take it bitterly when their inferiors best them in argument. Nevertheless, since you desire an exchange, I shall oblige you — and satisfy both poets too: not saying everything to them, yet not hiding everything from you. First, then, concerning the length of our letters, I will say this: you complain of the brevity of mine, while I complain of the length of yours. My practice, at least, has Sparta to recommend it, and you yourself have called my letter Laconic. But name me the champions of your wordiness — you cannot, unless perhaps that babbler who wept before the assembly of the Achaeans. That your office is coming to an end, I am entirely persuaded. For you seem driven to distraction by your distress, and driven by your distraction to write such things as these. So long as you did not expect your office to end, you kept your wits about you. And you truly wrote this while lying awake — for there was no sleeping for a man who trembles for his power. As for Julian, he was not among our foremost students, though he would have been, had he not first spent his time in a city given over to dancing, and then bolted from us at the earliest opportunity — since he was not without natural talent for letters. Indeed, he probably lost most of what he brought with him, once he fell in with you. "From the noble, noble things come" — but I spare you the rest of the line, out of courtesy to you. It seems to me that this too spurred him to become a soldier: he saw the consul strutting on air, thundering with a great voice, looking down on the gods, bearing down on everyone else, yet groveling before men whose very slaves are better than he is. And so Julian fell in love with power — the same power he found you courting. Do not be surprised, then, if, so long as you remain dependent on such men for your influence, Optatus follows Julian's example.

τῷ αὐτῷ. (359) Σὺ μὲν παρεκάλεις με πρὸς παρρησίαν ὡς πᾶν οἴσων 10 ὅ τι ἂν ἐξ ἐμοῦ λέγηται, Αἰσχύλος δὲ ἀποτρέπει λέγων μὴ δεῖν τοὺς ἥττους θρασυστομεῖν. ἀλλὰ καὶ Εὐριπίδης φησίν, ὡς οἱ μεγάλα πνέοντες, περὶ ὑμῶν δή που λέγων, πικρῶς φέρουσι λόγους παρ’ ἐλαττόνων κρείσσονας. ὅμως δέ, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἀμοιβαίων ἐπιθυμεῖς, σοί τε χαριοῦμαι καὶ τοῖν ποιη- ταῖν τοῖς μὲν οὐ πάντα εἰπών, σοὶ δὲ οὐ πάντα κρύψας. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν περὶ τοῦ μέτρου τῶν γραμμάτων ἐκεῖνο λέγω, ὅτι σὺ μὲν τῶν ἐμῶν τὴν βραχύτητα δυσχεραίνεις, ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν ἰσῶν τὸ μῆκος. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐμὸν ἡ Σπάρτη παραμυ- θεῖται, καὶ σὺ προσείρηκας Λακωνικὴν τὴν ἐπιστολήν, τῆς δὲ σῆς φλυαρίας εἰπὲ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις πλὴν εἰ τὸν ἀκριτόμυθον τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῶν Ἀχαιῶν κλάοντα. τὴν δὲ ἀρχήν σοι λήγειν καὶ πάνυ πείθομαι. φαίνῃ γὰρ ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ λυπεῖσθαι παραπαίειν, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ παραφρονεῖν τοιαῦτα γράφειν. ἕως δὲ οὐ προσεδόκησας τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸ τέλος, ἐσωφρόνεις. ταυτὶ δὲ ἔγραφες ὄντως ἀγρυπνῶν οὐ γὰρ ἦν καθεύδειν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐξουσίας τρέμοντα. Ἰουλια- νὸς δὲ τῶν μὲν πρώτων παρ’ ἡμῖν οὐκ ἦν, ἐγένετο δ’ ἂν τῶν πρώτων, εἰ μὴ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν ὀρχουμένῃ πόλει διή- γαγεν, ἔπειτα παρ’ ἡμῶν ὡς τάχιστα ἀπεπήδησεν, ἐπειδὴ οὐ κακός γε ἐπεφύκει πρὸς λόγους, ἴσως δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν ὧν ἀφῖκτο φέρων ἀπέβαλε τοὺς πλείους, ὡς συνεγένετό σοι. ἐσθλῶν μὲν γὰρ ἀπ’ ἐσθλά, τὸ δὲ ἐχόμενον ἀφίημι σὴν χάριν δοκεῖ δέ μοι κἀκείνῃ παροξυνθῆναι γενέσθαι στρατιώτης· ἐώρα τὸν ὕπατον τὸν ἀεροβατοῦντα καὶ μέγα φθεγγόμενον καὶ περιφρονοῦντα τοὺς θεοὺς τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἐπικείμενον, ὑποπεπτωκότα δὲ ἀνθρώποις, ὧν ἀνδράποδα κέκτηται βελτίω. ἠράσθη οὖν ἰσχύος, ἣν εὗρε σὲ θεραπεύοντα. μὴ οὖν θαυ- μάσῃς, εἰ σοῦ μένοντος ἐν τῷ δι’ ἐκείνους δύνασθαι ζηλώσει τὸν Ἰουλιανὸν Ὁπτάτος.