Letter 188: Sebon is a Cretan, and he is related by blood to the people you govern -- for he descends from those men born to...

To Andronicus. (360) Sebon is a Cretan, and he is in some way related by descent to those whom you govern. For he is a descendant of those men who came into being from Europa, when Zeus carried the maiden away from Phoenicia across the sea to Crete. Full of learning, which you yourself, by conversing with him and putting him to the test, will discover, he has been made good by his education no less in his character than in his tongue. And indeed this too belongs to his cultivation: he opened his house to strangers and made many men forget their own household and put his concerns ahead of their own. So he received, when the man put in to shore, a Phoenician too, the brother of Eusebius the orator, whom he prayed to send back safe; while the man was present he cared for him, and when he had departed [in death] he mourned him, as one who was in other respects worthy and who had deliberated about his property in a manner worthy of praise. For, leaving aside his wicked brothers, he gave it, both as regards the others and as regards himself, to a noble man, both as regards the others and as regards himself. But the brothers have now treated the will with great shamelessness. And at the same time many other vultures were being carried in from many quarters, whom Sebon drove off. But these are the most troublesome of all, conquering like the Scythians, for they conquer by fleeing. But for the Scythians it was their living upon wagons that afforded them this; for these men it is, on the part of the rulers, the sluggishness of some and another sort of baseness of the others. These men ought to have been indignant as though they themselves were being wronged, but they were sleeping: Elpidius the Aristides and Andronicus the Phocion. But now at last, a mouse in pitch! For you indeed will drag them out of the darkness into the light, both for the sake of justice and because you have judged it a terrible thing that those who sit at home should live in luxury, in no way better than slaves, while Sebon, the foremost of the Greeks, wanders four years in a foreign land, though he has a wife and children. And you would know <indeed> the longing he has about these things, on account of which he set out many times, having thrown aside his lawsuit, to return home, but was held back by us who pitied him, lest he should perceive his enemies enjoying the fruits of what is his own and quoting the Homeric saying, that it is shameful for no deed to appear superior to time [i.e. that no achievement should be allowed to be undone by mere passage of time]. Show, then, that we have rightly persuaded him to remain, and to the laws grant the calling forth of those who are in hiding, and to us grant that it be done quickly; for I shall have no defense if this man falls once more into delays, when the power to press matters forward rests in you. For your saying that you will help with all your strength for my sake will strip me of every excuse, if you should be slack. See to it, then, that you do not show me up as a braggart.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (360) Σέβων ἐστὶ μὲν Κρής, προσήκει δέ τι κατὰ γένος τού- τοις ὧν ἄρχεις. ἔστι γὰρ ἀπόγονος τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων, οἳ ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐγένοντο τῷ Διὶ κομίσαντι τὴν παρθένον ἀπὸ Φοινίκης διὰ θαλάττης εἰς Κρήτην. γέμων δὲ μαθημά- των, ἃ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμιλῶν τε καὶ πειρώμενος εὑρήσεις, οὐ μᾶλ- λον τὴν γλῶτταν ἢ τοὺς τρόπους ἀγαθὸς ὑπὸ τῆς παιδεύσεως γεγένηται. κοὶ δὴ καὶ τόδε τῆς παιδείας· ἀνέῳξε γὰρ ξένοις τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ πολλοὺς ἐποίησεν ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῆς οἰ- κείας καὶ πρὸ τῶν οἰκείων τὸ τοῦδε ποιήσασθαι. δέχεται δὴ κατάραντα καὶ Φοίνικα ἄνδρα, ἀδελφὸν Εὐσεβίου τοῦ ῥήτορος ὃν πέμψαι μὲν εὔχετο σῶν, παρόντα δὲ ἐθεράπευσεν, ἀπελθόν- τα δὲ ἐπένθησε τά τε ἄλλα χρηστὸν ὄντα καὶ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἀξίως ἐπαίνου βεβουλευμένον. ἀφεὶς γὰρ πονηροὺς ἀδελ- φοὺς πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ πρὸς αὑτὸν ἔδωκεν ἀνδρὶ γεν- ναίῳ πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ πρὸς αὑτόν. οἱ δὲ ἐχρήσαντο νῦν πολλῇ κατὰ τῶν διαθηκῶν ἀναισχυντίᾳ. καὶ ἅμα γῦπες ἕτεροι πολλοὶ πολλαχόθεν ἐφέροντο, οὓς Σέβων ἀπεσόβησεν. ἀλλ’ οὗτοί γε πάντων εἰσὶ χαλεπώτατοι νικῶντες ὥσπερ οἱ Σκύθαι, φεύγοντες γὰρ νικῶσιν. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸ ἐπ’ ἀμα- ζῶν οἰκεῖν τοῦτο παρεῖχε, τούτοις δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν μὲν νωθεία, τῶν δὲ ἑτέρα κακία. οὓς χρῆν ἀγανακτεῖν ὥσπερ αὐ- τοὺς ἀδικουμένους, οἱ δ’ ἐκάθευδον, Ἐλπίδιός τε ὁ Ἀριστεί- δης καὶ Ἀνδρόνικος ὁ Φωκίων. ἀλλ’ ἄρτι δὴ μῦς πίττης. σὺ γὰρ δὴ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σκότους πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἑλκύσεις τῶν τε δικαίων εἵνεκα καὶ νομίσας δεινὸν τοὺς μὲν οἴκοι καθη- μένους τρυφᾶν ἀνδραπόδων οὐδαμῇ βελτίους, Σέβωνα δὲ τὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄκρον ἐπ’ ἀλλοτρίας ἔτη τέτταρα ἀλᾶσθαι γυναικὸς οὔσης αὐτῷ καὶ παίδων. εἰδότι &#x003C;δ᾿&#x003E; ἂν τὸν περὶ ταῦτα πόθον, δι’ ὃν ὥρμησε πολλάκις ῥίψας τὴν δί- κἠν ἐπανελθεῖν, ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν δὲ κατεκωλύθη τὸν ἐλεούντων, εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αἰσθήσεται τὰ αὑτοῦ καρπουμένους καὶ τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν λεγόντων, ὡς αἰσχρὸν μηδὲν ἔργον φανῆναι κρεῖττον τοῦ χρόνου. δεῖξον δὴ καλῶς ἡμᾶς πεπεικότας μέ- νειν καὶ τοῖς μὲν νόμοις χάρισαι τὸ καλέσαι τοὺς κρυπτομέ- νους, ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ ταχέως· ὡς οὐκ ἔσται μοι λόγος, ἢν οὗτος αὖθις εἰς ἀναβολὰς ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ κατεπείγειν ὄντος ἐν σοί. τὸ γὰρ ὅτι παντὶ σθένει βοηθήσεις ἐμὴν χάριν προειπεῖν πάντα με ἀφαιρήσεται λόγον, εἰ ῥᾳθυμήσαις. ὅρα οὖν μή με ἀπο- φήνῃς ἀλαζόνα.