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limit, these men truly benefit both those who are taxed and those who command the collection. I know that your splendor does this; for you govern your authority with sagacity, and because of this you rejoice in a fatherly gentleness, and using mild words, you make the collections of the tributes better than anyone harsh and breathing fire. For those who are asked, being shamed by your gentleness, forgetting their poverty, are stripped even of their cheap rags. Indeed, even now in so great a scarcity of gold, with goods thrown away, and no one approaching either moist or dry fruits, having borrowed five and ten and twenty gold pieces, and having stripped the soldiers stationed among us, they sent the gold, as much as you ordered to be given. So powerful is gentleness mixed with intelligence; for that tragic saying is truly true, that: One wise counsel conquers many hands... Thus therefore, O best of men, you continue to govern, bidding a long farewell to those who provoke you and preferring the care for common affairs above all else. For thus you will both serve the God of all and you will preserve for the emperor the c[ities] entrusted to you and you will reap good repute from all. 38 TO ISOCASIUS THE [SOPH]IST. The good and noble Gerontius, who knows best how to work with wood, and has learned from his art to inlay images of all sorts of animals and trees in wood, and has a character that most beautifully surpasses the excellence of his art, I have sent to your magnificence, although I myself greatly need his art, I have preferred your service to our need. For having learned from the most illustrious Eurycianus that your greatness needs the man for the decoration of your house, I immediately sent him to your wisdom, so that you might entrust the work to the best of his fellow-craftsmen and he might return to us as quickly as possible. Since, therefore, having the man in our hands, we have preferred your interests, we ask to receive the same favor; and we shall obtain it, if, after you have set the necessary people to your works, he returns to us as quickly as possible. 39 TO ANTIOCHUS, FORMER PREFECT. Your just judgment can be seen from many places and from other things; but your vote concerning the governors shows it most of all, to whom you have entrusted the leadership of both the provinces and the cities; for making the care of all subjects a common concern, you have selected those who are most incorruptible and super[ior] to money and who h[old] the scales of justice e[venly], and in a word, the best men, and you have appointed them over the cities like fathers and physicians and pilots. We have indeed met with many other good and noble men who were chosen by your vote to govern, but we saw the most illustrious Neon as most worthy of admiration and most deserving of respect. For we have had greater experience of him, since he was chosen to move the rudders of our fatherland and throughout the entire time of his rule, by governing wisely, he caused the ship to be carried by fair winds. This man, now having ceased from his rule, has himself been freed from disturbances and cares, but he has stripped his subjects of a father's care; and he runs to your greatness, having acquired glory instead of money and being distinguished by his admirable poverty, worthy of many praises. But send this man back to us again with the rudders. For may it not happen that a man who knows how to do good should lack opportunities for beneficence. 40 TO DOMETIANUS THE QUAESTOR.

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ὅρον, οὗτοι καὶ τοὺς εἰσπραττομένους καὶ τοὺς εἰσπράττειν κελεύον τας ἀτεχνῶς εὐεργετοῦσι. Τοῦτο τὴν σὴν οἶδα ποιοῦσαν λαμ πρότητα· ἀγχινοίᾳ γὰρ κυβερνᾷς τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πατρικῇ μὲν ἡμερότητι χαίρεις, ἠπίοις δὲ λόγοις κεχρημένος, ἀπηνοῦς παντὸς καὶ πῦρ πνέοντος ἄμεινον τῶν εἰσφορῶν τὰς εἰσπράξεις ποιῇ. Αἰσχυνόμενοι γάρ σου τὸ πρᾶον οἱ ἀπαιτού μενοι, τῆς πενίας ἐπιλανθανόμενοι, καὶ τῶν εὐτελῶν ῥακίων γυμνοῦνται. Ἀμέλει καὶ νῦν ἐν τοσαύτῃ σπάνει χρυσίου τῶν ὠνίων ἐῤῥιμμένων, οὐδενὸς οὐχ ὑγροῖς οὐ ξηροῖς προσιόντος καρποῖς, κατὰ πέντε καὶ δέκα καὶ εἴκοσι δανεισάμενοι χρυσί νους, καὶ τοὺς παρ' ἡμῖν ἱδρυμένους ἀποδύσαντες στρατιώτας ἀπέστειλαν τὸ χρυσίον, ὅσον δοθῆναι προσέταξας. Τοσαῦτα δύναται ἡμερότης κεκραμένη συνέσει· ἀληθὲς γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς ἐκεῖνο τὸ τραγικόν, ὅτι· Σοφὸν ἓν βούλευμα πολλὰς χεῖρας νικᾷ ... Οὕτω τοίνυν, ὦ ἄριστε, διατελεῖς κυβερνῶν, ἐῤῥῶσθαι πολλὰ τοῖς παροξύνουσι λέγων καὶ τὴν τῶν κοινῶν προμήθειαν πάν των ὁμοῦ προτιμῶν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεραπεύσεις Θεὸν καὶ βασιλεῖ τὰς ἐγχειρισθείσας σοι διασώσεις π[όλεις] καὶ τὴν εὔκλειαν τὴν παρὰ πάντων τρυγήσεις. 38 ΙΣΟΚΑΣΙΩ [ΣΟΦΙΣΤ]Η. Τ[ὸν] καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν Γερόντιον, ὃς οἶδε μὲν ἄριστα ξύλα τεκταίνειν, ἔμαθε δὲ παρὰ τῆς τέχνης ζῴων καὶ δένδρων παν τοδαπῶν εἰκόνας ἐνθεῖναι τοῖς ξύλοις, ἔχει δὲ τρόπον νικῶντα κάλλιστον τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς τέχνης, ἀπέστειλά σου τῇ μεγα λοπρεπείᾳ, κομιδῇ μὲν αὐτοῦ τῆς τέχνης δεόμενος, τὴν ὑμε τέραν δὲ θεραπείαν τῆς ἡμετέρας προτιμήσας χρείας. Μαθὼν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ λαμπροτάτου Εὐρυκιανοῦ, ὅτι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εἰς τὴν τῆς οἰκίας ποικιλίαν τὸ μέγεθος δεῖται τὸ σόν, εὐθὺς αὐτὸν πέπομφα τῇ σοφίᾳ τῇ σῇ, ὥστε τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν ὁμο τέχνων ἐγχειρίσαι τοὖργον καὶ τὴν ταχίστην ἐπανελθεῖν ὡς ἡμᾶς. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐν χερσὶν ἔχοντες τὸν ἄνδρα προτετι μήκαμεν τὰ ὑμέτερα, τῆς αὐτῆς τυχεῖν χάριτος ἐπαγγέλλο μεν· τευξόμεθα δέ, ἢν ἐπιστήσας τοῖς ὑμετέροις ἔργοις οὓς δεῖ, ὡς τάχιστα ἐπανέλθῃ πρὸς ἡμᾶς. 39 ΑΝΤΙΟΧΩ ΑΠΟ ΥΠΑΡΧΩΝ. Πολλαχόθεν μὲν καὶ ἄλλοθεν τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐστὶν ἰδεῖν δικαιοκρισίαν· δείκνυσι δὲ ὑμᾶς ὅτι μάλιστα ἡ περὶ τῶν ἀρχόν των ψῆφος, οἷς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἄγειν ἐνεχειρί σατε· κοινὴν γὰρ ἁπάντων τῶν ὑπηκόων κηδεμονίαν ποιούμε νοι, τοὺς ἀδωροτάτους καὶ χρημάτων κρεί[ττου]ς καὶ ἴ[σα] κατέχοντας τὰ τῆς δίκης ζυγά, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς τοὺς ἀρίστους ἐκλεγόμενοι, οἷόν τινας πατέρας καὶ ἰατροὺς καὶ κυβερνήτας ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπεστήσατε. Πολλοῖς μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλοις καλοῖς καὶ ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐντετυχήκαμεν, ἄρχειν ὑπὸ τῆς ὑμετέ ρας ψήφου λαχοῦσιν, ἀξιάγαστον δὲ μάλιστα καὶ αἰδοῦς ἀξιώ τατον εἴδομεν τὸν λαμπρότατον Νέωνα. Καὶ γὰρ πεῖραν αὐτοῦ εἰλήφαμεν πλείονα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας πατρίδος κινεῖν τοὺς οἴακας εἴληχε καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς χρόνον ἐξ οὐρίων φέρεσθαι τὸ σκάφος σοφῶς κυβερνῶν παρεσ κεύασεν. Οὗτος νῦν παυσάμενος τῆς ἀρχῆς, αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπηλ λάγη θορύβων ὁμοῦ καὶ φροντίδων, ἐγύμνωσε δὲ τοὺς ἀρχο μένους πατρικῆς κηδεμονίας· τρέχει δὲ παρὰ τὸ ὑμέτερον μέγεθος, δόξαν ἀντὶ χρημάτων κτησάμενος καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ θαυ μαστῇ καὶ πολλῶν ἐπαίνων ἀξίᾳ λαμπρυνόμενος πενίᾳ. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτον αὖθις ἡμῖν μετὰ τῶν πηδαλίων πέμψατε. Μὴ γὰρ γένοιτο ἄνδρα εὐεργετεῖν ἐπιστάμενον τῶν εἰς εὐεργεσίαν σπανίζειν προφάσεων. 40 ∆ΟΜΕΤΙΑΝΩ ΚΟΙΑΙΣΤΩΡΙ.