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receiving and delivering from the waves of injustice. But for your holiness, the adornment is not the harbor, which receives the merchant ships of the world, but the reality of divine love. 31 WITHOUT AN INSCRIPTION. I, for my part, am both without share of splendid words and destitute of good deeds. But you yourself fulfill the laws of friendship, weaving praises for friends, and by the power of words lifting them up to a height, and showing how much strength words have, that they are able to show even very small things as great; having gathered their beauty and power from every side, you offer their fruits, now speaking in conversations, now uttering through letters, and placing Attic eloquence in your writings, and charming those who encounter them more with the pleasure of your words than the Sirens of myth bewitched Odysseus with their songs. And I write these things trusting in experience rather than report; for I have often lent you my ears when you were conversing, and now in your letters I have beheld him whom I knew, and I have professed much gratitude to the most reverend Phaasganius for bringing me such a feast of words, and I have become grateful for this benefaction. For what he announced, I gladly heard; and if he also obtained a welcome conclusion, which brought him to us, let this be considered the work of his own zeal and care. But let your excellence write to us often and procure us pleasure. 32 TO THEODOTUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH. There is, it seems, even from those who attempt to do injustice a very great enjoyment of benefaction, and of this experience has become my teacher; for having spent more time in Antioch, compelled on account of that injustice, I richly enjoyed the honey of your holiness, and I learned more clearly of how many good things the company of your holiness is a source. For the consolation of your countenance overcame the pain of injustice and the pleasure of your sweetness plundered the anguish. Unforgettable, therefore, of your affection for us ... 33 ..., he received authority and was proclaimed first of the prefects, but because he is a man full of wisdom, knowing how to do good, honoring virtue, skilled in ruling, holding the scales of justice unswerving, more exact than a balance concerning what is just, having been zealous to pity his subjects, using philanthropy as a counselor, raising up the cities that lie in ruins, leading their senates, which were at their last gasp and known by name only, back to life, encouraging with the power of his authority those who possessed property and were compelled to pay taxes and were finally giving up, and, in short, doing all things which serve God, the ruler of all, and the most gentle emperor of all; for he is in accord with God, having willed to be pious. For these things we are pleased, for these things we consider life a festival. But you who are most excellent of all, not only in authority but also in zeal for doing good, grant us a first favor on this throne, which I formerly announced. For I have already written to your greatness, while you were still dictating the laws of the emperor, beseeching that the most devout and God-loving Euthalius the presbyter be released from the praetorian tax, a man full of all philosophy, both in letters and in action, and possessing little, barely sufficient for himself and his household. The most magnificent and most glorious prefect of the city ordered him to pay this tax, being ignorant that he is not a most illustrious, but a most venerable man. And even if he were still most illustrious, he would have been released from such a tax, since the law which has honored the *memoriales* clearly states this. But I beseech and again I beseech and I entreat. Honor

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δεχόμενος καὶ τῶν τῆς ἀδικίας ἀπαλλάττων κυμάτων. Τῇ δὲ σῇ ὁσιότητι κόσμος οὐχ ὁ λιμήν, ὁ τὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης ὁλκάδας δεχόμενος, ἀλλὰ τὸ χρῆμα τῆς ἀγάπης τῆς θείας. 31 ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ. Ἐγὼ μὲν καὶ λόγων λαμπρῶν ἄμοιρος καὶ ἔργων ἔρημος ἀγαθῶν. Αὐτὸς δὲ φιλίας νόμους πληροῖς, φίλοις ἐπαίνους ὑφαίνων, καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τῶν λόγων τούτους αἴρων εἰς ὕψος, καὶ δεικνὺς πόσην ἔχουσι ῥώμην οἱ λόγοι, ὅτι καὶ τὰ λίαν σμι κρὰ μεγάλα δεικνύειν ἰσχύουσιν· ὧν τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ κράτος πανταχόθεν συναγαγών, τοὺς τούτων προσφέρεις καρπούς, νῦν μὲν ἐν συνουσίαις διαλεγόμενος, νῦν δὲ διὰ γραμμάτων φθεγ γόμενος, καὶ τὴν ἀττικὴν εὐγλωττίαν τιθεὶς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι, καὶ πλέον τῇ τῶν λόγων ἡδονῇ τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας θέλγων ἢ αἱ τοῦ μύθου Σειρῆνες τὸν Ὀδυσσέα ταῖς ᾠδαῖς κατεκήλησαν. Καὶ ταῦτα γράφω πείρᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ φήμῃ πιστεύων· καὶ γὰρ τὰ ὦτα διαλεγομένῳ σοι πολλάκις ὑπέσχον, καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς γράμ μασιν ὃν ᾔδειν ἐθεασάμην, καὶ χάριν πολλὴν ὡμολόγησα τῷ αἰδεσιμωτάτῳ Φασγανίῳ, τοιαύτην μοι λόγων εὐωχίαν κομίσαν τι, καὶ εὐγνώμων περὶ τήνδε τὴν εὐεργεσίαν γεγένημαι. Ἃ γὰρ ἐπήγγειλεν ἀσμένως ἐπήκουσα· εἰ δὲ καὶ πέρας ἔλαβε κατα θύμιον, ὅπερ αὐτὸν ἤγαγεν ὡς ἡμᾶς, τῆς αὐτοῦ σπουδῆς ἔργον τοῦτο νομιζέσθω καὶ ἐμμελείας. Ἡ δὲ σὴ ἀρετὴ συχνῶς ἡμῖν γραφέτω καὶ ἡδονὴν προξενείτω. 32 ΘΕΟ∆ΟΤΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΙΑΣ. Ἔστιν ἄρα καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀδικεῖν ἐπιχειρούντων εὐεργεσίας ἀπόλαυσις μεγίστη, καὶ τούτου μοι γέγονεν ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκα λος· πλείονα γὰρ χρόνον τῇ Ἀντιοχέων ἐνδιατρίψας, τῆς ἀδι κίας χάριν ἐκείνης ἀναγκασθείς, πλουσίως τοῦ τῆς σῆς ὁσιό τητος ἀπέλαυσα μέλιτος, καὶ ἔγνων σαφέστερον ὅσων ἀγαθῶν πρόξενος ἡ τῆς σῆς ὁσιότητος συνουσία. Ἐνίκα γὰρ τὸν κατὰ τῆς ἀδικίας πόνον ἡ τῆς σῆς θέας παραψυχὴ καὶ ἐσύλα τὴν ὀδύνην ἡ τῆς σῆς γλυκύτητος ἡδονή. Ἄληστον τοίνυν τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς σου φιλοστοργίας ... 33 ..., ἔλαβεν ἐξουσίαν καὶ τῶν ὑπάρχων πρῶτος ἀναγορευθείς, ἀλλ' ὅτι σοφίας γέμων ἀνήρ, εὐεργετεῖν ἐπιστάμενος, τιμῶν ἀρετήν, ἄρχειν εἰδώς, ἀκλινῆ τὰ τῆς δίκης κατέχων στάθμια, ζυγοῦ περὶ τὸ δίκαιον ἀκριβέστερος, ἐλεεῖν τοὺς ἀρχομένους ἐσπουδακώς, φιλανθρωπίᾳ συμβούλῳ κεχρημένος, τὰς πόλεις ἀνεγείρων κειμένας, τὰ τούτων βουλευτήρια ψυχοῤῥαγοῦντα καὶ μόνοις ὀνόμασιν γνωριζόμενα πρὸς ζωὴν ἐπανάγων, τοὺς κεκτημένους καὶ συντελεῖν ἠναγκασμένους καὶ λοιπὸν ἀπει πόντας ψυχαγωγῶν τῇ τῆς ἐξουσίας δυνάμει, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς πάντα ποιῶν, ἃ τὸν τῶν ὅλων πρύτανιν θεραπεύει Θεὸν καὶ τὸν πάντων ἡμερώτατον βασιλέα· συμφρονεῖ γὰρ Θεῷ εὐσε βεῖν βεβουλημένος. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ἡδόμεθα, διὰ ταῦτα ἑορτὴν τὸν βίον νομίζομεν. Ἀλλ' ὁ πάντων ἐξοχώτατος οὐκ ἐξουσίᾳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸ εὐεργετεῖν σπουδῇ, δὸς ἡμῖν πρώτην χάριν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ θρόνῳ, ἣν πρώην ἐπήγγειλα. Γέγραφα γὰρ ἤδη τῷ ὑμετέρῳ μεγέθει, ἔτι τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπαγορεύοντι τοὺς νόμους, ἱκετεύων ἀπαλλαγῆναι τὸν εὐλαβέστατον καὶ θεοφι λέστατον Ἐυθάλιον τὸν πρεσβύτερον τοῦ τῆς πραιτούρας Τελέσματος, ἄνδρα φιλοσοφίας ἁπάσης μεστὸν τῆς τε ἐν γράμμασι τῆς τε ἐν πράγματι, καὶ βραχέα κεκτημένον, μόλις αὐτῷ καὶ οἰκείοις ἀποχρῶντα. Εἰσπραχθῆναι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ τέλος προσέταξεν αὐτὸν ὁ μεγαλοπρεπέστατος καὶ ἐνδοξό τατος τῆς πόλεως ὕπαρχος, ἀγνοῶν ὡς οὐκ ἔστι λαμπρότατος, ἀλλὰ πρεσβύτατος ἀνήρ. Καὶ εἰ λαμπρότατος δὲ ἦν ἔτι, ἀπήλ λακτο ἂν τοῦ τοιούτου τέλους, τοῦ τοὺς μεμοριαλίους τετιμη κότος νόμου τοῦτο σαφῶς διαγορεύοντος. Ἀλλὰ δέομαι καὶ πάλιν δέομαι καὶ ἀντιβολῶ. Τιμήσατε