Letter 278: It was not, then, Bithynia's fate for her misfortune to last forever.

To Alexander. (358) It was not, then, fated for Bithynia that its worse fortune should become immortal. For this reason there came one who knows how to do this, to be its healer. For you could not raise up a man who has died, as in the fables, but cities that have perished you can restore again to the form of cities. This indeed is what you are now doing. For they are said to be coming back to life. And may they recover, O gods, all their former beauty. I rejoice doubly: both that you are the one doing the good, and that the Bithynians are the ones being well treated. For you are my son, and that nation is in place of a fatherland to me. And I would have recounted to you both the reception and the cheerfulness of those days, were it not that you yourself are able to tell them to others as one who knows them. The pleasure, therefore, that I would have had if you had benefited my native land, this I now have, since you are doing everything so that this land, which is in no way second to mine, may appear such as it was before. It is a fine thing too, I think, on your part, that the young man, kinsman of Aristaenetus and a member of my chorus [pupil], one who knows how to feel shame and has practiced friendship, you did not overlook as he fared worse than those baser than himself, but received him within and gave him a share of an honorable place and made him distinguished both in present circumstances and in those that are hoped for. And if you consider that these things have been done not so much for Dianium as for me, you will be judging the truth. For this man, who has gladdened me more than any of my companions, has grieved me least.

Ἀλεξάνδρῳ. (358) Οὐκ ἄρα εἵμαρτο τῇ Βιθυνίᾳ τὴν χείρω τύχην ἀθάνα- τον γενέσθαι. διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθεν ἰασόμενος ὃς ἐπίσταται τοῦτο ποιεῖν. σὺ γὰρ ἄνθρωπον μὲν τεθνεῶτα οὐκ ἂν ἀναστήσαις, ὥσπερ ἐν μύθοις, πόλεις δ’ ἂν οἰχομένας πάλιν εἰς σχῆμα καταστήσαις πόλεων. ὃ δὴ νῦν ποιεῖς. λέγονται γὰρ ἀναβιῶ- ναι. καὶ κομίσαιντό γε τὸ πρότερον, ὦ θεοί, κάλλος ἅπαν. χαίρω δὲ διπλῇ, τῷ τε σὲ τὸν εὖ ποιοῦντα εἶναι τῷ τε Βιθυνοὺς τοὺς εὖ πάσχοντας εἶναι. σύ τε γὰρ παῖς ἐμὸς τό τε ἔθνος ἀντὶ πατρίδος ἐμοί. καὶ διῄειν ἄν σοι τήν τε ὑποδο- χὴν καὶ χρόνων ἐκείνων εὐθυμίαν, εἰ μὴ ἦν αὐτῷ σοὶ πρὸς ἄλλους εἰδότι λέγειν. ἣν οὖν εἶχον ἂν ἡδονήν, εἴ μοι τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν ὠφέλεις, ταύτην ἔχω νῦν, ἐπειδὴ τὴν οὐδέν μοι ταυτησὶ δευτέραν ὅπως οἵα πρότερον ἦν φανείη πάντα ποιεῖς. καλὸν δὲ οἶμαί σου καὶ τὸ τὸν νεανίσκον Ἀρισταινέτου μὲν συγγενῆ, χορευτὴν δὲ ἐμόν, αἰσχύνεσθαι δὲ εἰδότα, φιλεῖν δὲ μεμελετηκότα μὴ περιιδεῖν πράττοντα χείρω τῶν αὑτοῦ χειρόνων, ἀλλ’ εἴσω τε δέξασθαι καὶ μεταδοῦναι χώρας ἐντίμου καὶ ποιῆσαι λαμπρὸν τοῖς τε νῦν τοῖς τε ἐλπιζομένοις. καὶ ταῦτα ἂν νομίζῃς οὐκ εἰς Διάνιον μᾶλλον ἢ ἐμὲ πεπρᾶχθαι, τὰ ὄντα δοξάσεις. οὗτος γὰρ δὴ πλεῖστά με εὐφράνας ἑταίρων ἐλύπησεν ἥκιστα.