Letter CXLVIII.750    Placed in 373.

To Trajan.751    A Trajan was commander-in-chief under Valens.  cf. Theod. iv. 30 and Amm. Marcellinus xxxi.  He was killed at the battle of Adrianople in 378.  This may have been the same officer.

Even the ability to bewail their own calamities brings much comfort to the distressed; and this is specially the case when they meet with others capable, from their lofty character, of sympathizing with their sorrows.  So my right honourable brother Maximus, after being prefect of my country, and then suffering what no other man ever yet suffered, stripped of all his belongings both inherited from his forefathers and collected by his own labours, afflicted in body in many and various ways, by his wanderings up and down the world, and not having been able to keep even his civil status free from attack, to preserve which freemen are wont to leave no labour undone, has made many complaints to me about all that has happened to him, and has begged me to give you a short description of the Iliad of woes in which he is involved.  And I, being quite unable to relieve him in any other way in his troubles, have readily done him the favour shortly to relate to your excellency a part of what I have heard from him.  He, indeed, seemed to me to blush at the idea of making a plain tale of his own calamity.  If what has happened shews that the inflicter of the wrong is a villain, at all events it proves the sufferer to be deserving of great pity; since the very fact of having fallen into troubles inflicted by Divine Providence, seems in a manner to shew that a man has been devoted to suffering.  But it would be a sufficient comfort to him if you will only look at him kindly, and extend also to him that abundant favour which all the recipients of it cannot exhaust,—I mean your clemency.  We are all of us convinced that before the tribunal your protection will be an immense step towards victory.  He who has asked for my letter as likely to be of service is of all men most upright.  May it be granted me to see him, with the rest, proclaiming aloud the praises of your lordship with all his power.

ΤΡΑΙΑΝῼ

[1] Πολλὴν φέρει τοῖς καταπονουμένοις παραμυθίαν καὶ τὸ ἔχειν ἀποδύρασθαι τὰς ἑαυτῶν συμφοράς, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιτύχωσι δυναμένων ἐκ τῆς τοῦ τρόπου καλοκἀγαθίας συμπαθῆσαι τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς. Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος ἀδελφὸς Μάξιμος, ὁ τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν ἡγησάμενος, παθὼν οἷα οὐδέπω τις ἀνθρώπων ἕτερος καὶ πάντων μὲν γυμνωθεὶς τῶν προσόντων ὅσα τε ἦν αὐτῷ πατρῷα καὶ ὅσα ἐκ προτέρων πόνων συνειλεγμένα, κακοπαθήσας δὲ τῷ σώματι μυρία ταῖς ἄνω καὶ κάτω πλάναις καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἀνεπηρέαστον διασώσας, ἧς ἕνεκα πάντα πονεῖν τοῖς ἐλευθέροις σύνηθες, πολλὰ μὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν συμβάντων αὐτῷ ὠλοφύρατο, ἠξίωσε δὲ δι' ἡμῶν ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ φανερὰν γενέσθαι σοι τὴν περιστᾶσαν αὐτὸν τῶν κακῶν Ἰλιάδα. Κἀγώ, ἐπειδὴ ἄλλως οὐδὲν ἀφελεῖν αὐτοῦ τῶν δεινῶν ἠδυνήθην, ἑτοίμως ταύτην ἔδωκα τὴν χάριν, τὸ ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν ὧν ἤκουσα παρ' αὐτοῦ διαγγεῖλαι τῇ κοσμιότητί σου, ἐπειδὴ αὐτός μοι ἐρυθριᾶν ἐδόκει τὰς ἑαυτοῦ συμφορὰς ἐναργῶς διηγήσασθαι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πονηρὸν τὰ γεγονότα συνίστησι τὸν ἠδικηκότα, ἀλλ' οὖν γε τὸν πεπονθότα τῆς ἐλεεινῆς ὄντα μερίδος δείκνυσιν, ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸ τὸ παραπεσεῖν τοῖς θεηλάτοις κακοῖς ἀπόδειξίν πως ἔχειν δοκεῖ τοῦ παραδεδόσθαι τοῖς πάθεσιν. Ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ αὐτῷ πρὸς παραμυθίαν τῶν συμβάντων τὸ εὐμενεῖ αὐτὸν προσβλέψαι τῷ ὄμματί σε καὶ τὴν πολυαρκῆ χάριν ἧς πάντες ἀπολαύοντες δαπανᾶν οὐ δύνανται (τὴν τῆς σῆς ἡμερότητος λέγω) καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἀφεθῆναι. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἐν δικαστηρίοις μεγάλη αὐτῷ ἀφορμὴ πρὸς τὴν νίκην ἡ παρὰ σοῦ ῥοπὴ πάντες ἀκριβῶς πεπείσμεθα. Δικαιότατος δὲ πάντων καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἡμῶν, ὥς τι ὄφελος αὐτῷ ἐσομένην, ἐπιζητήσας: ὃν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἴδοιμεν τῇ κατὰ δύναμιν φωνῇ τὴν σὴν εὐφημοῦντα σεμνότητα.