Ep. XCI.

Affairs with us go on as usual:  we are quiet without strifes and disputes, valuing as we do the reward (which has no risk attaching to it) of silence, beyond everything.  And we have derived some profit from this rest, having by God’s mercy fairly recovered from our illness.  Do you ride on and reign, as holy David says,31    Num. xxiv. 7.    Ps. xlv. 4. and may God, Who has honoured you with Priesthood, accompany you throughout, and set it for you above all slander.  And that we may give each other a proof of our courage, and may not suffer any human calamity as we stand before God, I send this message to you, and do you promptly assent to it.  There are many reasons which make me very anxious about our very dear Pancratius.  Be good enough to receive him kindly, and to commend him to the best of your friends, that he may attain his object.  His object is through some kind of military service to obtain relief from public office, though there is no single kind of life that is unexposed to the slanders of worthless men, as you very well know.

[91] ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΩΙ

Τὰ μὲν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἔχει ὡς ἔχει: ἄνευ πολέμου καὶ πραγμάτων καθήμεθα, « σιωπῆς ἀκίνδυνον γέρας » ἀντὶ πάντων τιμήσαντες. Καί τι καὶ ὠνάμεθα τῆς ἡσυχίας, ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ ἱκανῶς τῆς ἀρρωστίας ἀνενεγκόντες. Σὺ δὲ « κατευοδοῦ καὶ βασίλευε », ὡς ὁ θεῖος Δαυΐδ φησι: καί σοι συνδιέποι τὴν ἱερωσύνην ὁ τιμήσας Θεός, πάσης ἐπηρείας ὑψηλοτέραν ταύτην χαριζόμενος. Ἵνα δὲ τοῦ θαρρεῖν ἀλλήλοις ἀπόδειξιν δῶμεν καὶ μή τι πάσχωμεν ἀνθρώπινον Θεῷ παριστάμενοι, ἐγὼ μὲν ταῦτα πρεσβεύω πρὸς σέ, σὺ δέ μοι προθύμως ἐπίνευσον. Τοῦ γνησιωτάτου υἱοῦ ἡμῶν Παγκρατίου κηδόμεθα, πολλῶν ἕνεκεν ἀναγκαίων τοῦτο ποιοῦντες. Τοῦτον καὶ προσίεσθαι θέλησον εὐμενῶς καὶ συστῆσαι τῶν φίλων τοῖς σπουδαιοτέροις, ὥστε τοῦ σκοποῦ τυχεῖν. Ὁ δὲ σκοπός, στρατείᾳ τινὶ τὴν ἀπραγμοσύνην λαβεῖν: ἐπεὶ μηδὲ εἷς βίος ἀνεπηρέαστος τοῖς πονηροῖς, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸς γινώσκεις.