Ionia; and from the country of the Celts one who is in Illyria or Thrace;
and from Thrace or Illyria one who is in the country of the Celts. And
moreover, though plants if removed from their native soil when the weather
and the season are unfavourable cannot be kept alive, it is not so with
men, who can remove from one place to another without completely
deteriorating or changing their character and deviating from the right
principles that they had before adopted. It is therefore unlikely that our
affection will become blunted, if indeed we do not love and cherish each
other the more for the separation. For ‘wantonness attends on
satiety,’(334) but love and longing on want. So in this respect we shall
be better off if our affection tends to increase, and we shall keep one
another firmly set in our minds like holy images. And one moment I shall
see Anaxagoras, and the next he will see me. Though nothing prevents our
seeing one another at the same instant; I do not mean our flesh and sinews
and ‘bodily outline and breasts in the likeness’(335) of the bodily
original—though perhaps there is no reason why these too should not become
visible to our minds—but I mean our virtue, our deeds and words, our
intercourse, and those conversations which we so often held with one
another, when in perfect harmony we sang the praises of education and
justice and mind that governs all things mortal and human: when too we
discussed the art of government, and law, and the different ways of being
virtuous and the noblest pursuits, everything in short that occurred to us
when, as occasion served, we mentioned these subjects. If we reflect on
these things and nourish ourselves with these images, we shall probably
pay no heed to the ‘visions of dreams in the night,’(336) nor will the
senses corrupted by the alloy of the body exhibit to our minds empty and
vain phantoms. For we shall not employ the senses at all to assist and
minister to us, but our minds will have escaped from them and so will be
exercised on the themes I have mentioned and aroused to comprehend and
associate with things incorporeal. For by the mind we commune even with
God, and by its aid we are enabled to see and to grasp things that escape
the senses and are far apart in space, or rather have no need of space:
that is to say, all of us who have lived so as to deserve such a vision,
conceiving it in the mind and laying hold thereof.”)
Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν Περικλῆς, ἅτε δὴ μεγαλόφρων ἀνὴρ [C] καὶ τραφεὶς ἐλευθέρως ἐν
ἐλευθέρᾳ τῇ πόλει, ὑψηλοτέροις ἐψυχαγώγει λόγοις αὑτόν· ἐγὼ δὲ γεγονὼς ἐκ
τῶν οἷοι νῦν βροτοί εἰσιν ἀνθρωπικωτέροις ἐμαυτὸν θέλγω καὶ παράγω λόγοις,
καὶ τὸ λίαν πικρὸν ἀφαιρῶ τῆς λύπης, πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν ἀεί μοι
προσπιπτόντων ἀπὸ τοῦ πράγματος δυσχερῶν τε [D] καὶ ἀτόπων φαντασμάτων
ἐφαρμόζειν τινὰ παραμυθίαν πειρώμενος, ὥσπερ ἐπῳδὴν θηρίου δήγματι
δάκνοντος αὐτὴν ἔσω τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν καὶ τὰς φρένας. ἐκεῖνό τοι πρῶτόν
ἐστί μοι τῶν φαινομένων δυσχερῶν. νῦν ἐγὼ μόνος ἀπολελείψομαι καθαρᾶς
ἐνδεὴς ὁμιλίας καὶ ἐλευθέρας ἐντεύξεως· οὐ γὰρ ἔστι μοι τέως ὅτῳ
διαλέξομαι θαρρῶν ὁμοίως. πότερον οὖν οὐδ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ διαλέγεσθαι ῥᾴδιόν ἐστί
μοι; ἀλλ᾽ ἀφαιρήσεταί μέ τις καὶ τὴν ἔννοιαν καὶ προσαναγκάσει νοεῖν ἕτερα
καὶ θαυμάζειν παρ᾽ ἃ βούλομαι; ἢ τοῦτο μέν ἐστι τέρας ἤδη καὶ προσόμοιον
τῷ γράφειν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος καὶ τῷ λίθον ἕψειν καὶ τῷ ἱπταμένων ὀρνίθων ἐρευνᾶν
ἴχνη τῆς πτήσεως; οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ [249] τούτων ἡμᾶς οὐδεὶς ἀφαιρεῖται,
συνεσόμεθα δήπουθεν αὐτοί πως ἑαυτοῖς, ἴσως δὲ καὶ ὁ δαίμων ὑποθήσεταί τι
χρηστόν· οὐ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἄνδρα ἑαυτὸν ἐπιτρέψαντα τῷ κρείττονι παντάπασιν
ἀμεληθῆναι καὶ καταλειφθῆναι παντελῶς ἔρημον· ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ θεὸς χεῖρα
ἑὴν ὑπερέσχε [B] καὶ θάρσος ἐνδίδωσ(337) καὶ μένος ἐμπνεῖ καὶ τὰ πρακτέα
τίθησιν ἐπὶ νοῦν καὶ τῶν μὴ πρακτέων ἀφίστησιν. εἵπετό τοι καὶ Σωκράτει
δαιμονία φωνὴ κωλύουσα πράττειν ὅσα μὴ χρεὼν ἦν· φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος ὑπὲρ
Ἀχιλλέως· τῷ γὰρ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκεν, ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐννοίας ἡμῶν
ἐγείροντος, ὅταν ἐπιστρέψας ὁ νοῦς εἰς ἑαυτὸν αὑτῷ τε πρότερον ξυγγένηται
καὶ τῷ θεῷ δι ἑαυτοῦ μόνου, [C] κωλυδόομενος ὑπ᾽ οὐδενοός. οὐ γὰρ ἀκοῆς ὁ
νοῦς δεῖται πρὸς τὸ μαθεῖν οὐδὲ μὴν ὁ θεὸς φωνῆς πρὸς τὸ διδάξαι τὰ
δέοντα· ἀλλ᾽ αἰσθήσεως ἔξω πάσης ἀπὸ τοῦ κρείττονος ἡ μετουσία γίνεται τῷ
νῷ· τίνα μὲν τρόπον καὶ ὅπως οὐ σχολὴ νῦν ἐπεξιέναι, τὸ δ᾽ ὅτι γίνεται
δῆλον(338) καὶ σαφεῖς οἱ μάρτυρες, οὐκ ἄδοξοί τινες οὐδ᾽ ἐν τῇ Μεγαρέως
[D] ἄξιοι τάττεσθαι μερίδι, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀπενεγκαμένων ἐπὶ σοφία τὰ
πρωτεῖα.(339)
(Ah, but Pericles, inasmuch as he was a man of lofty soul and was bred as
became a free man in a free city, could solace himself with such sublime
arguments, whereas I, born of such men as now are,(340) must beguile and
console myself with arguments more human; and thus I assuage the excessive
bitterness of my sorrow, since I constantly endeavour to devise some
comfort for the anxious and uneasy ideas which keep assailing me as they
arise from this event, like a charm against some wild beast that is
gnawing into my very vitals(341) and my soul. And first and foremost of
the hardships that I shall have to face is this, that now I shall be
bereft of our guileless intercourse and unreserved conversation. For I
have no one now to whom I can talk with anything like the same confidence.
What, you say, cannot I easily converse with myself? Nay, will not some
one rob me even of my thoughts, and besides compel me to think
differently, and to admire what I prefer not to admire? Or does this
robbery amount to a prodigy unimaginable, like writing on water or boiling
a stone,(342) or tracing the track of the flight of birds on the wing?
Well then since no one can deprive us of our thoughts, we shall surely
commune with ourselves in some fashion, and perhaps God will suggest some
alleviation. For it is not likely that he who entrusts himself to God will
be utterly neglected and left wholly desolate. But over him God stretches
his hand,(343) endues him with strength, inspires him with courage, and
puts into his mind what he must do. We know too how a divine voice
accompanied Socrates and prevented him from doing what he ought not. And
Homer also says of Achilles, “She put the thought in his mind,”(344)
implying that it is God who suggests our thoughts when the mind turns
inwards and first communes with itself, and then with God alone by itself,
hindered by nothing external. For the mind needs no ears to learn with,
still less does God need a voice to teach us our duty: but apart from all
sense‐perception, communion with God is vouchsafed to the mind. How and in
what manner I have not now leisure to inquire, but that this does happen
is evident, and there are sure witnesses thereof—men not obscure or only
fit to be classed with the Megarians,(345)—but such as have borne the palm
for wisdom.)
Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ χρὴ προσδοκᾶν καὶ θεὸν ἡμῖν παρέσεσθαι πάντως καὶ ἡμᾶς
αὐτοὺς αὑτοῖς συνέσεσθαι, τὸ λίαν δυσχερὲς ἀφαιρετέον ἐστι τῆς λύπης. ἐπεὶ
καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα μόνον ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καθειργμένον ἑπτὰ τοὺς πάντας ἐνιαυτούς,
εἶτ᾽ ὀδυρόμενον, τῆς μὲν ἄλλης ἐπαινῶ καρτερίας, τῶν θρήνων δὲ οὐκ ἄγαμαι.
[250] τί γὰρ ὄφελος πόντον ἐπ᾽ ἰχθυόεντα δέρκεσθαι καὶ λείβειν δάκρυα; τὸ
δὲ μὴ προέσθαι μηδ᾽ ἀπαγορεῦσαι πρὸς τὴν τύχην, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνδρα μέχρις ἐσχάτων
γενέσθαι πόνων(346) καὶ κινδύνων, τοῦτο ἔμοιγε φαίνεται μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ
ἄνθρωπον. οὐ δὴ δίκαιον ἐπαινεῖν μὲν αὐτούς, μὴ μιμεῖσθαι δέ, οὐδὲ
νομίζειν, ὡς ἐκείνοις μὲν ὁ θεὸς προθύμως συνελάμβανε, [B] τοὺς δὲ νῦν
περιόψεται τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁρῶν ἀντιποιουμένους, δι᾽ ἥνπερ ἄρα κἀκείνοις
ἔχαιρεν· οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὸ κάλλος τοῦ σώματος, ἐπεί τοι τὸν Νιρέα μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν
ἀγαπᾶσθαι, οὐδὲ διὰ τὴν ἰσχύν, ἀπείρῳ γὰρ ὅσῳ Λαιστρυγόνες καὶ Κύκλωπες
ἦσαν αὐτοῦ κρείττους, οὐδὲ διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον, οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἔμεινεν ἀπόρθητος
Τροία. τί δὲ δεῖ πράγματα ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἐπιζητοῦντα τὴν αἰτίαν, δι ἣν
Ὀδυσσέα φησὶν [C] ὁ ποιητὴς θεοφιλῆ, αὐτοῦ γε ἐξὸν ἀκούειν;
(It follows therefore that since we may expect that God will be present
with us in all our doings, and that we shall again renew our intercourse,
our grief must lose its sharpest sting. For indeed in the case of
Odysseus(347) too, who was imprisoned on the island for all those seven
years and then bewailed his lot, I applaud him for his fortitude on other
occasions, but I do not approve those lamentations. For of what avail was
it for him to gaze on the fishy sea and shed tears?(348) Never to abandon
hope and despair of one’s fate, but to play the hero in the extremes of
toil and danger, does indeed seem to me more than can be expected of any
human being. But it is not right to praise and not to imitate the Homeric
heroes, or to think that whereas God was ever ready to assist them he will
disregard the men of our day, if he sees that they are striving to attain
that very virtue for which he favoured those others. For it was not
physical beauty that he favoured, since in that case Nireus(349) would
have been more approved; nor strength, for the Laëstrygons(350) and the
Cyclops were infinitely stronger than Odysseus; nor riches, for had that
been so Troy would never have been sacked. But why should I myself labour
to discover the reason why the poet says that Odysseus was beloved by the
gods, when we can hear it from himself? It was)
Οὕνεκ᾽ ἐπητής ἐσσι καὶ ἀγχίνοος καὶ ἐχέφρων.
(“Because thou art so wary, so ready of wit, so prudent.”(351))
δῆλον οὖν ὡς, εἴπερ ἡμῖν ταῦτα προσγένοιτο, τὸ κρεῖττον οὐκ ἐλλείψει τὰ
παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸν δοθέντα πάλαι ποτὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις χρησμὸν
καλούμενός τε καὶ ἄκλητος ὁ θεὸς παρέσται.
(It is therefore evident that if we have these qualities in addition, God
on His side will not fail us, but in the words of the oracle once given of
old to the Lacedaemonians, “Invoked or not invoked, God will be present
with us.”(352))
[D] Τούτοις ἐμαυτὸν ψυχαγωγήσας ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέρος ἄπειμι πάλιν, ὃ δοκεῖ
τῇ μὲν ἀληθείᾳ μικρὸν εἶναι, πρὸς δόξαν δὲ ὅμως οὐκ ἀγεννές. Ὁμήρου τοί
φασι δεῖσθαι καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, οὐ δήπου συνόντος, ἀλλὰ κηρύττοντος ὥσπερ
Ἀχιλλέα καὶ Πάτροκλον καὶ Αἴαντας ἄμφω καὶ τὸν Ἀντίλοχον. ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν
ὑπερορῶν ἀεὶ τῶν παρόντων, ἐφιέμενος δὲ τῶν ἀπόντων οὐκ ἠγάπα τοῖς καθ᾽
ἑαυτὸν οὐδὲ ἠρκεῖτο τοῖς δοθεῖσι· καὶ εἴπερ ἔτυχεν Ὁμήρου, [251] τὴν
Ἀπόλλωνος ἴσως ἂν ἐπόθησε λύραν, ᾗ τοῖς Πηλέως ἐκεῖνος ἐφύμνησε γάμοις, οὐ
τῆς Ὁμήρου συνέσεως τοῦτο πλάσμα νομίσας, ἀλλ᾽ ἀληθὲς ἔργον ἐνυφανθὲν τοῖς
ἔπεσιν, ὥσπερ οἶμαι τὸ
(Now that I have consoled myself with these arguments I will go back to
that other consideration which, though it seems trivial, nevertheless is
generally esteemed to be not ignoble. Even Alexander, we are told, felt a
need for Homer, not, of course, to be his companion, but to be his herald,
as he was for Achilles and Patroclus and the two Ajaxes and Antilochus.
But Alexander, ever despising what he had and longing for what he had not,
could never be content with his contemporaries or be satisfied with the
gifts that had been granted to him. And even if Homer had fallen to his
lot he would probably have coveted the lyre of Apollo on which the god
played at the nuptials of Peleus;(353) and he would not have regarded it
as an invention of Homer’s genius but an actual fact that had been woven
into the epic, as when for instance Homer says,)
Ἠὼς μὲν κροκόπεπλος ἐκίδνατο πᾶσαν ἐπ᾽ αἶαν
(“Now Dawn with her saffron robe was spread over the whole
earth”;(354))
καὶ
(and)
Ἡέλιος δ᾽ ἀνόρουσε
(“Then uprose the Sun”;(355))
καὶ
(and)
Κρήτη τις γαῖ᾽ ἐστί,
(“There is a land called Crete”;(356))
καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτά φασιν οἱ ποιηταί, δῆλα καὶ ἐναργῆ τὰ μὲν ὄντα καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς
ἕτι, τὰ δὲ γιγνόμενα.
(or other similar statements of poets about plain and palpable things
partly existing to this very day, partly still happening.)
[B] Ἀλλὰ τῷ μὲν εἴτε μέγεθος ἀρετῆς ὑπερέχον(357) καὶ τῶν προσόντων ἀγαθῶν
οὐδαμῶς ἐλάττων σύνεσις εἰς τοσαύτην ἐπιθυμίαν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐξῆγεν, ὥστε
μειζόνων ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ὀρέγεσθαι,(358) εἴθ᾽ ὑπερβολή τις ἀνδρείας καὶ
θάρσους εἰς ἀλαζονείαν ἄγουσα(359) καὶ πρὸς αὐθάδειαν βλέπουσα, ἀφείσθω
σκοπεῖν ἐν κοινῷ τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπαινεῖν ἢ ψέγειν αὐτόν, [C] εἴ τις ἄρα
καὶ ταύτης ὑπολαμβάνει τῆς μερίδος προσήκειν ἐκείνῳ. ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῖς
παροῦσιν ἀγαπῶντες ἀεὶ καὶ τῶν ἀπόντων ἥκιστα μεταποιούμενοι στέργομεν
μέν, ὁπόταν ὁ κήρυξ ἐπαινῇ, θεατής τε καὶ συναγωνιστὴς πάντων ἡμῖν
γεγονώς, μὴ τοὺς λόγους παραδεξάμενος εἰς χάριν καὶ ἀπέχθειαν εἰκῇ
πεπλασμένους· ἀρκεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ φιλεῖν ὁμολογῶν μόνον, ἐς δὲ τὰ ἄλλα
σιωπηλότερος ὢν καὶ τῶν Πυθαγόρᾳ τελεσθέντων.
(But in Alexander’s case, whether a superabundance of virtue and an
intelligence that matched the advantages with which he was endowed exalted
his soul to such heights of ambition that he aimed at greater achievements
than are within the scope of other men; or whether the cause was an excess
of courage and valour that led him into ostentation and bordered on sinful
pride, must be left as a general topic for consideration by those who
desire to write either a panegyric of him or a criticism; if indeed anyone
thinks that criticism also can properly be applied to him. I on the
contrary can always be content with what I have and am the last to covet
what I have not, and so am well content when my praises are uttered by a
herald who has been an eyewitness and comrade‐in‐arms in all that I have
done; and who has never admitted any statements invented at random out of
partiality or prejudice. And it is enough for me if he only admit his love
for me, though on all else he were more silent than those initiated by
Pythagoras.)
[D] Ἐνταῦθα ὑπέρχεταί μοι καὶ τὸ θρυλούμενον, ὡς οὐκ εἰς Ἰλλυριοὺς μόνον,
ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Θρᾷκας ἀφίξῃ καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἐκείνην οἰκοῦντας
Ἕλληνας, ἐν οἷς γενομένῳ μοι καὶ τραφέντι πολὺς ἐντέτηκεν ἔρως ἀνδρῶν τε
καὶ χωρίων καὶ πόλεων. ἴσως δὲ οὐ φαῦλος οὐδὲ ἐκείνων ἐναπολέλειπται ταῖς
ψυχαῖς ἔρως ἡμῶν, οἷς εὖ οἶδ᾽ ὅτι τὸ λεγόμενον ἀσπάσιος [252] ἐλθὼν ἂν
γένοιο, δικαίαν ἀμοιβὴν ἀντιδιδοὺς αὐτοῖς ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡμᾶς ἀπολέλοιπας ἐνθάδε.
καὶ τοῦτο μὲν οὐχ ὡς εὐχόμενος· ἐπεὶ τό γε ἰέναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὴν αὐτὴν
ταχέως ἄμεινον· ἀλλ᾽ ὡς, εἰ γένοιτο, καὶ πρὸς τοῦθ᾽ ἕξων οὐκ ἀπαραμυθήτως
οὐδὲ ἀψυχαγωγήτως ἐννοῶ, συγχαίρων ἐκείνοις, ὅτι σε παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ὄψονται.
Κελτοῖς γὰρ ἐμαυτὸν ἤδη διὰ σὲ συντάττω, ἄνδρα εἰς τοὺς πρώτους τῶν
Ἑλλήνων τελοῦντα καὶ κατ᾽ εὐνομίαν καὶ κατὰ [B] ἀρετὴν τὴν ἄλλην, καὶ
ῥητορείαν ἄκρον καὶ φιλοσοφίας οὐκ ἄπειρον, ἧς Ἕλληνες μόνοι τὰ κράτιστα
μετεληλύθασι, λόγῳ τἀληθές, ὥσπερ οὖν πέφυκε, θηρεύσαντες, οὐκ ἀπίστοις
μύθοις οὐδὲ παραδόξῳ τερατείᾳ προσέχειν ἡμᾶς, ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν
βαρβάρων, ἐάσαντες.
(Here however I am reminded of the report current that you are going not
only to Illyria but to Thrace also, and among the Greeks who dwell on the
shores of that sea.(360) Among them I was born and brought up, and hence I
have a deeply rooted affection for them and for those parts and the cities
there. And it may be that in their hearts also there still remains no
slight affection for me: I am therefore well assured that you will, as the
saying is, gladden their hearts by your coming, and there will be a fair
exchange, since they will gain in proportion as I lose by your leaving me
here. And I say this not because I wish you to go—for it were far better
if you should return to me by the same road without delay—but the thought
in my mind is that even for this loss I shall not be without comfort or
consolation, since I can rejoice with them on seeing you just come from
us. I say “us,” since on your account I now rank myself among the
Celts,(361) seeing that you are worthy to be counted among the most
distinguished Greeks for your upright administration and your other
virtues; and also for your consummate skill in oratory; in philosophy too
you are thoroughly versed, a field wherein the Greeks alone have attained
the highest rank; for they sought after truth, as its nature requires, by
the aid of reason and did not suffer us to pay heed to incredible fables
or impossible miracles like most of the barbarians.)
Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὅπως ποτὲ ἔχει, τανῦν ἀφείσθω. σὲ δέ· προπέμπειν ἤδη
γὰρ ἄξιον μετ᾽ εὐφημίας· ἄγοι μὲν θεὸς εὐμενής, ὅποι ποτ᾽ ἂν δέῃ
πορεύεσθαι, [C] Ξένιος δὲ ὑποδέχοιτο καὶ Φίλιος εὔνους, ἄγοι τε διὰ γῆς
ἀσφαλῶς· κἂν πλεῖν δέῃ, στορεννύσθω τὰ κύματα· πᾶσι δὲ φανείης φίλος καὶ
τίμιος, ἡδὺς μὲν προσιών, ἀλγεινὸς δὲ ἀπολείπων αὐτούς· στέργων δὲ ἡμᾶς
ἥκιστα ποθήσειας ἀνδρὸς ἑταίρου καὶ φίλου πιστοῦ κοινωνίαν. εὐμενῆ δὲ καὶ
τὸν αὐτοκράτορά σοι θεὸς ἀποφήνειε καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα κατὰ νοῦν διδοίη, [D]
καὶ τὴν οἴκαδε παρ᾽ ἡμᾶς πορείαν ἀσφαλῆ παρασκευάζοι καὶ ταχεῖαν.
(However, this subject also, whatever the truth about it may be, I must
lay aside for the present. But as for you—for I must needs dismiss you
with auspicious words—may God in His goodness be your guide wherever you
may have to journey, and as the God of Strangers and the Friendly One(362)
may He receive you graciously and lead you safely by land; and if you must
go by sea, may He smooth the waves!(363) And may you be loved and honoured
by all you meet, welcome when you arrive, regretted when you leave them!
Though you retain your affection for me, may you never lack the society of
a good comrade and faithful friend! And may God make the Emperor gracious
to you, and grant you all else according to your desire, and make ready
for you a safe and speedy journey home to us!)
Ταῦτά σοι μετὰ τῶν καλῶν κἈγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν συνεύχομαι, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τοίτοις
(In these prayers for you I am echoed by all good and honourable men; and
let me add one prayer more:)
Οὖλέ τε καὶ μέγα χαῖρε, θεοὶ δὲ τοι ὄλβια δοῖεν,
Νοστῆσαι οἶκόνδε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
(“Health and great joy be with thee, and may the gods give thee
all things good, even to come home again to thy dear
fatherland!”(364))
LETTER TO THEMISTIUS THE PHILOSOPHER
Introduction
On the strength of his Aristotelian “Paraphrases” Themistius may be called
a scholar, though hardly a philosopher as he himself claimed. Technically
he was a Sophist: that is to say he gave public lectures (ἐπιδείξεις),
wrote exercises after the Sophistic pattern and went on embassies, which
were entrusted to him solely on account of his persuasive charm. But he
insisted that he was no Sophist, because he took no fees(365) and styled
himself a practical philosopher.(366) He was indifferent to the Neo‐
Platonic philosophy,(367) and, since Constantius made him a Senator, he
cannot have betrayed any zeal for the Pagan religion. From Julian’s Pagan
restoration he seems to have held aloof, and, though Julian had been his
pupil, probably at Nicomedia, he did not appoint him to any office. Under
the Christian Emperor Theodosius he held a prefecture. There is no
evidence for a positive coolness, such as Zeller(368) assumes, between
Themistius and Julian, and we know too little of their relations to assert
with some critics that the respectful tone of this letter is
ironical.(369) It was probably written after Julian had become Emperor,
though there is nothing in it that would not suit an earlier date; it is
sometimes assigned to 355 when Julian was still Caesar. The quotations
from Aristotle are appropriately addressed to Themistius as an
Aristotelian commentator.
[253] ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ
(Julian, Emperor)
ΘΕΜΙΣΤΙΩΙ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΩΙ
(To Themistius the Philosopher)
Ἐγώ σοι βεβαιῶσαι μέν, ὥσπερ οὖν γράφεις, τὰς ἐλπίδας καὶ σφόδρα εὔχομαι,
δέδοικα δὲ μὴ διαμάρτω, μείζονος οὔσης τῆς ὑποσχέσεως, ἣν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ πρός
τε τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον πρὸς σεαυτὸν ποιῇ· καί μοι πάλαι μὲν
οἰομένῳ πρός τε τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ τὸν Μάρκον, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος γέγονεν
ἀρετῇ διαφέρων, [B] εἶναι τὴν ἅμιλλαν φρίκη τις προσῄει καὶ δέος
θαυμαστόν, μὴ τοῦ μὲν ἀπολείπεσθαι παντελῶς τῆς ἀνδρείας δόξω, τοῦ δὲ τῆς
τελείας ἀρετῆς οὐδὲ ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγον ἐφίκωμαι. εἰς ταῦτα ἀφορῶν ἀνεπειθόμην τὴν
σχολὴν ἐπαινεῖν, καὶ τῶν Ἀττικῶν διαιτημάτων(370) αὐτός τε ἡδέως ἐμεμνήμην
καὶ τοῖς φίλοις ὑμῖν προσᾴδειν ἠξίουν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ βαρέα φορτία φέροντες
ἐν ταῖς ᾠδαῖς ἐπικουφίζουσιν αὑτοῖς τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν. [C] σὺ δέ μοι νῦν
μεῖζον ἐποίησας διὰ τῆς ἔναγχος ἐπιστολῆς τὸ δέος καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῷ παντὶ
χαλεπώτερον ἔδειξας, ἐν ταύτῃ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τετάχθαι με τῇ μερίδι λέγων,
ἐν ᾗ πρότερον Ἡρακλῆς καὶ Διόνυσος ἐγενέσθην φιλοσοφοῦντες ὁμοῦ καὶ
βασιλεύοντες καὶ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν [254] τῆς ἐπιπολαζούσης κακίας
ἀνακαθαιρόμενοι γῆν τε καὶ θάλατταν. κελεύεις δὲ πᾶσαν ἀποσεισάμενον
σχολῆς ἔννοιαν καὶ ῥᾳστώνης σκοπεῖν, ὅπως τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἀξίως ἀγωνιούμεθα·
εἶτα ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τῶν νομοθετῶν μέμνησαι, Σόλωνος, Πιττακοῦ, Λυκούργου, καὶ
τούτων ἁπάντων μείζονα χρῆναι παρ᾽ ἡμῶν λέγεις τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐν δίκῃ νῦν
περιμένειν. τούτοις ἐγὼ τοῖς λόγοις ἐντυχὼν ἐξεπλάγην μικροῦ· [B] σοὶ μὲν
γὰρ ὑπελάμβανον οὐδαμῶς θεμιτὸν κολακεύειν ἢ ψεύδεσθαι, ἐμαυτῷ δὲ συνειδὼς
φύσεως μὲν ἕνεκα διαφέρον οὐδὲν οὔτε ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὔτε νῦν ὑπάρξαν, φιλοσοφίας
δὲ ἐρασθέντι μόνον· τὰς γὰρ ἐν μέσῳ σιγῶ τύχας, αἵ μοι τὸν ἔρωτα τοῦτον
ἀτελῆ τέως ἐφύλαξαν· οὐκ εἴχον οὖν ὅ, τι χρὴ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων λόγων
συμβαλεῖν, ἕως ἐπὶ νοῦν ἤγαγεν ὁ θεός, [C] μή ποτε ἄρα προτρέπειν ἐθέλεις
διὰ τῶν ἐπαίνων καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων δεῖξαι τὸ μέγεθος, οἷς ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τὸν ἐν
πολιτείᾳ ζῶντα παραβεβλῆσθαι τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον.
(I earnestly desire to fulfil your hopes of me even as you express them in
your letter, but I am afraid I shall fall short of them, since the
expectations you have raised both in the minds of others, and still more
in your own, are beyond my powers. There was a time when I believed that I
ought to try to rival men who have been most distinguished for excellence,
Alexander, for instance, or Marcus;(371) but I shivered at the thought and
was seized with terror lest I should fail entirely to come up to the
courage of the former, and should not make even the least approach to the
latter’s perfect virtue. With this in mind I convinced myself that I
preferred a life of leisure, and I both gladly recalled the Attic manner
of living, and thought myself to be in sweet accord with you who are my
friends, just as those who carry heavy burdens lighten their labour by
singing.(372) But by your recent letter you have increased my fears, and
you point to an enterprise in every way more difficult. You say that God
has placed me in the same position as Heracles and Dionysus of old who,
being at once philosophers and kings, purged almost the whole earth and
sea of the evils that infested them. You bid me shake off all thought of
leisure and inactivity that I may prove to be a good soldier worthy of so
high a destiny. And besides those examples you go on to remind me of law‐
givers such as Solon, Pittacus, and Lycurgus, and you say that men have
the right to expect from me now greater things than from any of these.
When I read these words I was almost dumbfounded; for on the one hand I
was sure that it was unlawful for you as a philosopher to flatter or
deceive; on the other hand I am fully conscious that by nature there is
nothing remarkable about me—there never was from the first nor has there
come to be now,—but as regards philosophy I have only fallen in love with
it (I say nothing of the fates that have intervened(373) to make that love
so far ineffectual). I could not tell therefore how I ought to interpret
such expressions, until God brought it into my mind that perhaps by your
very praises you wished to exhort me, and to point out how great are those
trials to which a statesman must inevitably be exposed every day of his
life.)