Letter 193: Here is another matter that needs correction.

To the same man. (360) Listen now to yet another matter that calls for correction. Among us there is no one like Asterius, and I think there is no one like him elsewhere either; such great care for virtue has the man possessed, not because old age has quenched in him the unbecoming pleasures, but because his nature led him from boyhood toward self-control, and for this reason he is held in reverence among the citizens, no more for being older than those over whom he now ranks than for having been younger than those before whom he then stood. And it presents itself to me as though my uncle were alive, whenever I meet with the old man and we settle into conversation. When, therefore, you cast him into smoke and the clanging of coppersmiths, affairs from which he had stood farther off than swans from forges, I was exceedingly distressed and was ready to write. Then I begged him to hold out for a little while and to grant to himself, as a favor, the favoring of you with toils to which he was unaccustomed, since he said the release would come at once. But since the business drags on, and there is confusion among those who labor at it, while he longs for the quiet for the sake of which he thrust away the magistracies that were coming into his hands, and since good men ought to find their joy in your power, whereas Asterius flees these things which others pursue, and indeed would gladly fall out even of his own household if he were not going to live at home in his own manner, I beg of you to praise the man for both his willingness to mind his own affairs and the services he has rendered, but to lead the assignment onto another, for many are those whom you rule. And Asterius, even released from these tasks, will not sit idle, for it is a work for him to marvel at the things that are yours.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (360) Ἄκουε δὴ καὶ ἕτερον ἐπανορθώσεως χρῇζον. Ἀστερίῳ παρ’ ἡμῖν οὐδεὶς ὅμοιος, οἶμαι δέ, οὐδὲ ἄλλοθι· τοσαύτην ἴσχεν ἁνὴρ ἐπιμέλειαν ἀρετῆς οὐ τοῦ γήρως αὐτῷ σβέσαντος τὰς ἀτόπους ἡδονάς, τῆς φύσεως δὲ ἐκ παιδὸς ἐπὶ τὸ σῶφρον ἀγούσης, ὅθεν ἐν αἰδοῖ παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, οὐ μᾶλλον ὧν ἐστι πρεσβύτερος ἢ ὧν ἦν τότε νεώτερος. ἐμοὶ δὲ δόξα παρίστα- ται ζῆν μοι τὸν θεῖον, ὅταν ἐντύχω τε τῷ πρεσβύτῃ καὶ κατα- στῶμεν εἰς λόγους. ὅτε οὖν αὐτὸν ἐνέβαλλες εἰς καπνόν τε καὶ κτύπους χαλκέων, πράγματα ὧν ἀφειστήκει πλέον ἢ καμί- νῶν οἱ κύκνοι, λίαν ἠχθέσθην καὶ γράφειν ἕτοιμος ἦν. ἔπει- τα ἐδεήθην αὐτοῦ μικρὸν ὑπομεῖναι χρόνον καὶ δοῦναι χάριν αὑτῷ τὸ σοὶ χαρίσασθαι πόνους, ὧν ἦν ἀήθης, φάσκων τίκα ἥξειν τὴν λύσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ μὲν ἐκτείνεται, ταραχὴ δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις, ὁ δὲ ἡσυχίας ἐρᾷ, δι’ ἣν ἀρχὰς αὑτῷ πρὸς τὰς χεῖρας ἰούσας ἀπεώσατο, δεῖ δὲ τοὺς χρηστοὺς ἐν τῇ σῇ δυνάμει χαίρειν, Ἀστέριος δὲ φεύγει ταῦτα ἃ διώκουσιν ἄλλοι καὶ δὴ καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἡδέως ἂν ἐκπέσοι μὴ μέλλων οἴ- κοι ζῆν κατὰ τὸν αὑτοῦ τρόπον, δέομαι σοῦ τὸν μὲν ἐπαινέσαι τοῦ τε τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττειν ἐθέλειν καὶ ὧν ὑπηρέτηκεν, ἐπ’ ἄλ- λον δὲ ἀγαγεῖν τοὐπίταγμα, πολλοὶ δὲ ὧν ἄρχεις. Ἀστέ- ριος δὲ καὶ τούτων ἀφειμένος τῶν ἔργων οὐκ ἀργὸς καθεδεῖ- ται, τὰ γὰρ σὰ θαυμάζειν ἔργον αὐτῷ.