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some plot was devised against the man. Therefore, deign to see him as a presbyter above reproach, joined to us, and worthy of all respect, thus benefiting yourself and gratifying us.

272.τ TO SOPHRONIUS THE MAGISTER

272.1 The deacon Actiacus has reported to me that certain persons have grieved you by slandering us, as though we were not well-disposed towards your eminence. But I was not surprised if there are certain flatterers who follow so great a man. For in some way these servile attentions are naturally attached to great powers; men who, because they lack any good of their own by which to be known, recommend themselves by the evils of others. And just as mildew is a blight of the wheat that arises in the wheat itself, so also flattery, by putting on the guise of friendship, is the ruin of friendship. I was not surprised, therefore, as I said, if some, like drones about the hives, buzz around your splendid and admirable hearth. But this seemed astonishing to me and utterly unreasonable, that you, a man especially distinguished for the gravity of your character, should have endured to open both your ears to them and to accept slander against me, I who, though I have loved many from my earliest youth up to this old age, know no one whom I have preferred in friendship to your excellency. For even if reason had not persuaded me to love such a man, the intimacy from childhood would have been enough to bind me to your soul. And you know how powerful custom is for friendship. But if I show nothing worthy of this choice, forgive my weakness. For you yourself do not seek from me a deed as proof of my goodwill, but a disposition, that is, one that joins in prayer for your best interests. For may your affairs never sink so low as to need the beneficence of one so small as I am.

272.2 How then was I going to say or do anything contrary to you in the affairs concerning Memnonius? For this is what the deacon reported to me. And how could I have set the wealth of Hymetius above your house, a man who spends his substance in such a way? But none of these things is true; nothing contrary has been said or done by me. But perhaps what gave an occasion to those who tell falsehoods was what was said by me to some of the troublemakers, namely: “If the man has decided to put his own opinion into action, whether you make a disturbance or not, what he is zealous for will happen anyway, no less whether you speak or are silent. But if he has changed his mind, do not drag down the venerable name of our friend, nor under the pretext of zeal for our patron, gain some profit for yourselves from the fear and threats you brandish.” But to the man himself who was writing the will, I said nothing either by myself or through another, either small or great, concerning this matter.

272.3 And you ought not to disbelieve these things, unless you consider me utterly desperate and to be contemptuous of the great sin of falsehood. But by all means, yourself dismiss the suspicion concerning this matter, and for the future, make my disposition towards you higher than all slander, imitating Alexander, who, when he received a letter against his physician accusing him of plotting, since it happened that at that very time he had taken medicine to drink, was so far from believing the slanderer that he read the letter and drank the medicine at the same time. For I do not think I should be considered more dishonorable than any of those known for their friendship, in that I have never been caught sinning against friendship, and moreover have received from my God the commandment of love, a debt which I owe not only according to the common nature of men, but also because I recognize you as a particular benefactor both of myself and of my country.

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κατεπενοήθη τι τοῦ ἀνδρός. Ὡς οὖν πρεσβύτερον ἀνεπηρέαστον καὶ ἡμῖν συνημμένον καὶ πάσης αἰδοῦς ἄξιον, οὕτω καταξίου αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν σαυτόν τε ὠφελῶν καὶ ἡμῖν χαριζόμενος.

272.τ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡΩ

272.1 Ἀπήγγειλέ μοι Ἀκτίακος ὁ διάκονος ὅτι σέ τινες ἐλύπησαν καθ' ἡμῶν

διαβάλλοντες ἡμᾶς ὡς οὐκ εὐνοϊκῶς πρὸς τὴν σὴν διακειμένους σεμνότητα. Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἐθαύ μασα εἴ τινές εἰσιν ἀνδρὶ τοσούτῳ παρεπόμενοι κόλακες. Πεφύκασι γάρ πως ταῖς μεγάλαις δυναστείαις αἱ ἀνελεύθε ροι αὗται παραφύεσθαι θεραπεῖαι· οἳ διὰ τὸ ἀπορεῖν οἰκείου ἀγαθοῦ δι' οὗ γνωρισθῶσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων κακῶν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστῶσι. Καὶ σχεδὸν ὥσπερ ἡ ἐρυσίβη τοῦ σίτου ἐστὶ φθορὰ ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένη τῷ σίτῳ, οὕτω καὶ ἡ κολακεία τὴν φιλίαν ὑποδυομένη λύμη ἐστὶ τῆς φιλίας. Οὐ τοίνυν ἐθαύ μασα, ὡς ἔφην, εἴ τινες ὥσπερ οἱ κηφῆνες τὰ σμήνη, οὕτως αὐτοὶ τὴν λαμπράν σου καὶ θαυμαστὴν ἑστίαν περιβομ βοῦσιν. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνό μοι θαυμαστὸν ἐφάνη καὶ παντελῶς παράλογον, τὸ σὲ ἄνδρα ἐπὶ τῷ βάρει τοῦ ἤθους μάλιστα διαφανῆ ἀνασχέσθαι αὐτοῖς ἀμφοτέρας ἀνεῖναι τὰς ἀκοὰς καὶ διαβολὴν κατ' ἐμοῦ παραδέξασθαι, ὃς πολλοὺς ἀγαπήσας ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας μέχρι τοῦ γήρως τούτου οὐδένα οἶδα εἰς φιλίαν τῆς σῆς τελειότητος προτιμήσας. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ εἰ μὴ ὁ λόγος ἔπεισέ με ἀγαπᾶν τοιοῦτον ὄντα, ἐξήρκει ἡ ἐκ παιδὸς συνήθεια προσδῆσαί με τῇ ψυχῇ σου. Οἶδας δὲ ὅσον δύναται πρὸς φιλίαν τὸ ἔθος. Εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν δείκνυμι τῆς προαιρέσεως ταύτης ἄξιον, σύγγνωθί μου τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἔργον παρ' ἐμοῦ εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς εὐνοίας ἐπιζητεῖς, ἀλλὰ προαίρεσιν δηλονότι τὰ βέλτιστά σοι συνευ χομένην. Μὴ γάρ ποτε εἰς τοσοῦτον καταβαίη τὰ σὰ ὥστε τῆς παρὰ τῶν οὕτω σμικρῶν ὁποῖος αὐτός εἰμι εὐεργεσίας προσδεηθῆναι. 272.2 Πῶς οὖν ἔμελλον ἐγὼ ὑπεναντίον τί σοι λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ Μεμνόνιον πράγμασι; Ταῦτα γάρ μοι ἀπήγγειλεν ὁ διάκονος. Πῶς δὲ τὴν Ὑμητίου εὐπορίαν προτιμοτέραν ἐτιθέμην τῆς σῆς οἰκίας, ἀνδρὸς οὕτω δαπα νῶντος τὴν οὐσίαν; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι τούτων οὐδὲν ἀληθές· οὔτε τι εἴρηται παρ' ἐμοῦ οὔτε πέπρακται ὑπεναντίον. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἴσως ἀφορμὴν ἔδωκε τοῖς τὰ ψευδῆ λέγουσι τὸ παρ' ἐμοῦ πρός τινας τῶν θορυβούντων λεχθέν, ὅτι· «Εἰ μὲν προῄρηται εἰς ἔργον ἀγαγεῖν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην ὁ ἄνθρωπος, κἂν θορυβήσητε ὑμεῖς κἂν μή, γενήσεται πάντως καὶ λαλούντων ὑμῶν καὶ σιωπώντων οὐδὲν ἧττον τὰ σπου δαζόμενα. Εἰ δὲ μεταβεβούλευται, μὴ παρασύρητε τὸ σεμνὸν ὄνομα τοῦ φίλου ἡμῶν μηδὲ ἐν προσχήματι δὴ τῆς περὶ τὸν προστάτην ἡμῶν σπουδῆς ἑαυτοῖς τι κέρδος ἐντεῦθεν ἐξ ὧν ἐπανατείνεσθε φόβον καὶ ἀπειλὴν καταπράττεσθε.» Πρὸς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν τὰς διαθήκας γράφοντα οὔτε δι' ἐμαυτοῦ οὔτε δι' ἑτέρου ἐφθεγξάμην ἢ μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον περὶ τοῦ πράγματος τούτου. 272.3 Καὶ τούτοις ἀπιστεῖν οὐκ ὀφείλεις, εἰ μὴ παντελῶς με ὡς ἀπεγνωσμένον ἡγῇ, καὶ καταφρονεῖν με τῆς μεγάλης ἁμαρτίας τοῦ ψεύδους. Ἀλλὰ πάνυ ἡμῖν αὐτὸς καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι τούτῳ ὑπόνοιαν ἄφες καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ πάσης διαβολῆς ὑψηλοτέραν ποιοῦ τὴν ἐμὴν περὶ σὲ διάθεσιν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μιμούμενος, ὃς ἐπιστολὴν κατὰ τοῦ ἰατροῦ δεξάμενος ὡς ἐπιβουλεύοντος, ἐπειδὴ ἔτυχεν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ φάρμακον λαβὼν ὥστε πιεῖν, τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχε πισ τεῦσαι τῷ διαβάλλοντι ὥστε ὁμοῦ τε τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀνεγί νωσκε καὶ τὸ φάρμακον ἔπινεν. Οὐδενὸς γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ φιλίᾳ γνωρίμων ἀτιμότερον ἐμαυτὸν ἀξιῶ τίθεσθαι τῷ μήτε ἁλῶναί ποτε εἰς φιλίαν ἐξαμαρτὼν καὶ ἔτι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου λαβεῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν τῆς ἀγάπης, ἧς χρεώστης εἰμὶ οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἰδίως εὐεργέτην σε γνωρίζω ἐμαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῆς πατρίδος.