Letter 274: You hold a great office.

To Dulcitius. (361?) You hold a great office. This is what Rumor foretold, and she did not lie. But you rule over others and not over us. On this score we might bring a charge against the goddess [Fortune], yet even in this there is some consolation. For in our stead our own fathers are cared for, which means that we ourselves are not without a share in the gain. But that you will come even here to still greater things, I know. And as for this Daricius, the Thracian here, or rather, better to call him a Hellene, since he was born there but is educated in the city of Theseus [Athens], I give him to you as a gift. For you know how to accept only such gifts as these, whereas gold, [...] even if it were Colophonian, has never shown itself to be more precious than lead. Receive, then, the young man, and trust him, and take heart, and when you admire him as an orator, do not consider him a formidable orator more than a good man. His character has been displayed in great crises; and may it be yours to test your friends in calm weather, but be well assured, in a storm none better than this man could be found. Toward your present Asia he is drawn by his judgment, and he makes that region [his choice] before his own homeland. It would rest with a god, and with you, to show that he has deliberated well.

Δουλκιτίῳ. (361?) Ἀρχεις ἀρχὴν μεγάλην. τοῦτο προεῖπεν ἡ Φήμη καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσατο. ἄρχεις <δὲ> ἑτέρων καὶ οὐχ ἡμῶν. περὶ δυναίμεθ’ ἂν ἐγκαλεῖν τῇ θεῷ, ἀλλὰ κἀν τούτῳ μέντοι παρα- 15 μυθία τις ἔνεστιν. ἀντὶ γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡμέτεροι θεραπεύονται πα- τέρες, ὅπερ ἐστὶν οὐκ ἀμοίρους εἶναι τοῦ κέρδους ἡμᾶς. ἀλλ’ ὅτι μέν γε καὶ δεῦρο ἥξεις ἐπὶ μείζοσιν οἶδα ἐγώ. Δαρίκιον δὲ τουτονὶ τὸν Θρᾷκα, βέλτιον δὲ εἰπεῖν Ἕλληνα, τίκτεται μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖ, παιδεύεται δὲ ἐν τῇ Θησέως, δῶρόν 20 σοι δίδωυι. τὰ τοιαῦτα γὰρ οἶσθα δέχεσθαι μόνα, χρυσὸς δέ, κἂν Κολοφώνιος ᾐ, μολύβδου τιμιώτερος οὐκ ἐφάνη. δέχου δὴ τὸν νεανίσκον καὶ πίστευε καὶ θάρρει καὶ ὅταν ὡς ῥήτορα θαυμάσῃς, μὴ μᾶλλον ἡγοῦ ῥήτορα δεινὸν ἢ ἄνδρα ἀγαθόν. δέδεικται δὲ ἐν μεγάλοις καιροῖς ὁ τρόπος, σοὶ δὲ εἴη μὲν ἐν γαλήνῃ πειρᾶσθαι τῶν φίλων, εὖ δ’ ἴσθι, τοῦδε ἀμείνων οὐκ ἂν ἐν χειμῶνι γένοιτο. πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὴν νῦν σὴν Ἀσίαν ὑπὸ τῆς γνώμης ἄγεται καὶ ποιεῖται πρὸ τῆς οἰκείας τὸ χωρίον. θεοῦ δ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ σοῦ δεῖξαι καλῶς βεβουλευμένον αὐτόν.