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formerly having made an agreement with them with a gift of gold; and not only this, but they also set twenty-four gold pieces per year for each one. And in like manner, instead of them doing the so-called personalion and cottidianon, about which I just went through, I used to compose suggestiones, the account of which is as follows: From of old, all those who assisted the current scrinia in what was once the first of the offices shone with great learning, and they were zealous to have the greater part in the Roman tongue; for it was necessary for them by all means. So when an appeal case happened to arise, and then was brought up to the senate for correction, the one who was superior to the other assistants would compose the so-called suggestio, that is, an instruction, for the hearing of the council, in such a way as to astonish both the quaestor of the council and those who were formerly called antecensores, but in our time antigrapheis. And with God helping and with the zeal from the 176 consolations that came to me making the labor unnoticeable, not only did I fulfill the said liturgies in the scrinium, but indeed, acting as a notary among the shorthand writers, and also assisting others who were writing shorthand in the Precinct of Justice, which is called the Secretum; and not small was both the glory through the works and the abundance of consolation in the works; whence, as if winged, I hastened toward the so-called a secretis of the court. 28 Zoticus, at the suggestion of Ammianus, who was in all things good and fair, a lover of learning and a philosopher in his life, procured a wife for me who brought a dowry of one hundred pounds of gold, and in other respects was superior to the women of any time admired for their modesty. But I, as time went on, expecting that my affairs would turn out much better, abstained from my ambition for the court, and gave my whole life to the civil service. Therefore, when these common matters had been completed in all the ways the account has mentioned, and since for the rest Fortune was not, as before, displeased with literary men, I came to hate the civil service, giving myself wholly to my books. And the emperor, learning of my sleepless devotion to letters, first deigned that I should deliver a panegyric to him, while by chance there were present also the notables from greater Rome, who are always concerned with, and indeed toil at, the study of literature. When this was done, he also urged me to write an account of the war against the Persians that had been auspiciously managed by him, when, troubling Dara, the city which the great Anastasius had set at the throat of the enemy, they returned from there not without small loss, not having advanced again during his reign. 29 Writing a pragmatic sanction to the prefecture concerning me, the emperor used these words: "To John the most learned, 178 we are aware of his great education in letters, his precision in grammar, his grace in poetry, and his other great learning, and how he, by his own labors, will show the Roman tongue to be more venerable, although the civil service in the courts of your highness is rightly his, he has chosen along with it to pursue a life among books and to dedicate himself wholly to letters. Therefore, judging it to be unworthy of our times to leave unrewarded one who has ascended to such a height of virtue, we command your highness to give him this from the public funds. Let the aforesaid most wise man know that we shall not stop at this, but shall also honor him with dignities and greater sacred bounties, considering it unfitting for such eloquence to be deemed worthy of so small a reward, praising him if he would also share with many others the preparation which he has." After the one then directing the city prefecture had voted on these things and had set aside for me a place assigned to teachers in the Capitoline court, while holding onto the civil service, I both taught and was led to be high-minded. 30 However, from the civil service, of its ranks and resources without any diminution, just as time ran on imperceptibly, I came to the end of my service. And of profits indeed

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πρότερον μετὰ χρυσίου δόσεως συνταξαμένων αὐτοῖς· καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τέσσαρας πρὸς εἴκοσι χρυσοῦς κατ' ἔτος ὥρισαν ἕκαστον. ὁμοίως τε ποιῶν ἀντ' αὐτῶν τὸ λεγόμενον περσωνάλιον καὶ κοττιδιανόν, περὶ ὧν ἄρτι διεξῆλθον, σουγγεστίωνας ἐτιθέμην, ὧν ὁ λόγος ὧδε· πάντες μὲν ἀνέκαθεν οἱ παρὰ τῇ ποτε πρώτῃ τῶν ἀρχῶν βοηθοῦντες τοῖς τρέχουσι σκρινίοις διὰ πολλῆς ἐξέλαμπον παιδείας, περὶ δὲ τὴν Ῥωμαίων φωνὴν τὸ πλέον ἔχειν ἐσπούδαζον· χρειώδης γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τἀναγκαῖον. δίκης οὖν ἐφεσίμου τυχὸν γενομένης, εἶτα πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον ἀναγομένης πρὸς διόρθωσιν, ὁ τῶν ἄλλων βοηθῶν κρείττων συνέταττε τὴν λεγομένην σουγγεστίωνα, ἀντὶ τοῦ διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἀκρόασιν τῆς βουλῆς οὕτως μάλιστα, ὡς ἐκπλήττειν τόν τε τῆς βουλῆς κυαίστωρα καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους πάλαι μὲν ἀντεκήνσωρας, καθ' ἡμᾶς δὲ ἀντιγραφεῖς. τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ συλλαμβάνοντος καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν περι 176 γινομένων μοι παραμυθιῶν προθυμίας ἀνεπαίσθητον ἀποτελούσης τὸν κάματον, οὐ μόνον ἐπλήρουν τὰς εἰρημένας λειτουργίας ἐπὶ τοῦ σκρινίου, ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐπισηκρητεύων παρὰ τοῖς ταχυγράφοις, ἔτι καὶ βοηθῶν ἑτέροις ἐν τῷ Τεμένει τῆς ∆ίκης ταχυγραφοῦσιν, ὃ καλεῖται Σήκρητον· καὶ οὐ μικρὰ ἥ τε δόξα διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἥ τε τῆς παραμυθίας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις ἀφθονία· ἔνθεν ὥσπερ ἀναπτερωθεὶς ἐπὶ τοὺς λεγομένους ἀ σηκρήτις τῆς αὐλῆς ἠπειγόμην. 28 Ὁ δὲ Ζωτικός, ὑποβάλλοντος αὐτῷ τοῦ πάντα χρηστοῦ καὶ ἐπιεικοῦς φιλομαθοῦς τε καὶ φιλοσόφου τὸν βίον Ἀμμιανοῦ, καὶ γαμετήν μοι περιποιεῖ ἑκατὸν μὲν χρυσίου λιτρῶν φερνὴν προσάγουσαν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κρείττονα τῶν ὅτε δή ποτε ἐπὶ σωφροσύνῃ θαυμαζομένων γυναικῶν. ἐγὼ δὲ κρείττονα πολλῷ, τοῦ χρόνου προϊόντος, ἐλπίζων προσελθεῖν μοι τὰ πράγματα, τῆς μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐλὴν σπουδῆς ἀπεσχόμην, ὅλον δέ μου τὸν βίον τῇ στρατείᾳ παρεχώρησα. τῶν οὖν κοινῶν τοιούτων ἀποτελεσθέντων ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὁποίων ὁ λόγος ἐμνημόνευσεν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῖς λογικοῖς οὐχ, ὡς τὸ πρίν, τῆς Τύχης ἀπαρεσκομένης, ἐμίσησα τὴν στρατείαν, ὅλον ἐμαυτὸν τοῖς βιβλίοις ἐκδούς. γνοὺς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν ἐμὴν περὶ τοὺς λόγους ἀγρυπνίαν πρῶτον μὲν ἐγκώμιον εἰπεῖν με πρὸς αὐτὸν κατηξίωσεν, παρόντων ἐκ τύχης καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μείζονος Ῥώμης λογάδων, οἷς ἀεὶ μέλει, καὶ τοῦτο ταλαιπωροῦσιν, τῆς περὶ λόγους σπουδῆς. οὗ γενομένου, καὶ συγγράψαι με τὸν πρὸς Πέρσας αἰσίμως αὐτῷ χειρισθέντα πόλεμον παρεκελεύσατο ὅτε ∆άραν, τὴν πόλιν ἣν ὁ πολὺς Ἀναστάσιος ταῖς φάρυγξι τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιτέθεικεν, ἐνοχλοῦντες ἐκεῖθεν οὐ μετὰ μικρᾶς ζημίας ὑπενόστησαν, οὐκ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ πάλιν προελθόντες. 29 Πραγματικὸν πρὸς τὴν ἐπαρχότητα γράφων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπ' ἐμοὶ τοιούτοις ἐχρήσατο ῥήμασιν· «Ἰωάννῃ τῷ λογιωτάτῳ 178 πολλὴν μὲν σύνισμεν τὴν ἐν λόγοις παιδείαν τήν τε ἐν γραμματικοῖς ἀκρίβειαν τήν τε ἐν ποιηταῖς χάριν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην αὐτοῦ πολυμάθειαν, καί, ὅπως τὴν Ῥωμαίων φωνὴν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πόνοις ἀποδείξει σεμνοτέραν, καίτοι τῆς στρατείας αὐτῷ τῆς ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις τῆς σῆς ὑπεροχῆς ὀρθῶς φερομένης, ἑλέσθαι μετ' αὐτῆς καὶ τὸν ἐν βιβλίοις ἀσκῆσαι βίον καὶ ὅλον ἑαυτὸν ἀναθεῖναι τοῖς λόγοις. τὸν τοίνυν εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀρετῆς ἀναβάντα ἀγέραστον ἀπολιπεῖν ἀνάξιον τῶν ἡμετέρων χρόνων εἶναι κρίνοντες, προστάττομεν τῇ σῇ ὑπεροχῇ ἐπιδοῦναι ἑαυτῷ τοῦ δημοσίου τόδε. ἴστω δὲ ὁ εἰρημένος σοφώτατος ἀνὴρ ὡς οὐ μέχρι τούτου στησόμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀξιώμασι καὶ ἱεραῖς μείζοσι φιλοτιμίαις τιμήσομεν αὐτόν, ἄτοπον ἡγούμενοι τοιαύτην εὐγλωττίαν οὕτω μικρᾶς ἀμοιβῆς ἀξιωθῆναι, ἐπαινοῦντες αὐτὸν εἰ καὶ πολλοῖς ἑτέροις τῆς οὔσης αὐτῷ μεταδοίη παρασκευῆς.» τούτοις ἐπιψηφισαμένου τοῦ τηνικαῦτα τὴν πολιαρχίαν ἰθύνοντος καὶ τόπον διδασκάλοις ἀπονενεμημένον ἀφορίσαντός μοι ἐπὶ τῆς Καπιτωλίδος αὐλῆς, ἐχόμενος τῆς στρατείας, ἐπαίδευον καὶ μεγαλοφρονεῖν ἐξηγόμην. 30 Παρὰ μέντοι τῆς στρατείας βαθμῶν τε καὶ πόρων ἄνευ τινὸς ἐλαττώσεως, ὥσπερ ἀνεπαισθήτως τοῦ χρόνου τροχάζοντος, ἐπὶ τὸ πέρας τῆς στρατείας ἀνῆλθον. καὶ κερδῶν μὲν