Letter 369: You delivered a lengthy defense of your concern for the girl when no one, I believe, was prosecuting you.

To Acacius (358) You drew out a long defense concerning your anxiety about the child, though no one, I think, was prosecuting you. For Olympius was not an accuser, but a messenger of your trembling, and one who brought it with pleasure. But may you fear many such fears, and may you fear that fear also on behalf of your sons and of your son-in-law, who, you say, has on our account often been on the point of contending in his trials. As for your plan concerning the summer, I praise you for having changed it. For it was not seemly that Calycius should dash so abruptly out of the bridal chamber, and that the teacher should be near to Titianus, his very own father. You, then, concealed the reason, but I proclaim it, having cast out that reason of yours which says that there would be danger to the young man from the theaters and the crowds of people. Another, perhaps, might have been corrupted by these things, but in Titianus's case his nature is stronger than the harm that comes from them. But with good fortune may he remain and be filled with the words of the ancients, using his parent as his guide.

Ἀκακίῳ (358) Μακρὰν ἀπολογίαν ἀπέτεινας ὑπὲρ τῆς περὶ τὴν παῖδα φροντίδος οὐδενός, οἶμαι, διώκοντος. ὁ γὰρ Ὀλύμπιος οὐ κατήγορος ἦν, ἀλλ’ ἄγγελος τοῦ τρόμου σὺν ἡδονὴ. σὺ δὲ πολλοὺς μὲν τοιούτους φοβηθείης φόβους, φοβηθείης δὲ κἀκεῖνον ὑπὲρ τῶν υἱέων καὶ τοῦ κηδεστοῦ, ὅν φὴς καὶ σοὶ δι’ ἡμᾶς γεγονέναι πολλάκις μέλλοντας ἀγωνιεῖσθαι. τὴν δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ θέρους βουλὴν μεταβαλὼν ἐπαινῶ. Καλυκίῳ τε γὰρ οὐκ εἶχε καλῶς οὕτως ὀξέως ἐκπηδᾶν τοῦ θαλάμου Τι- τιανῷ τε πλησίον ὁ διδάσκαλος, αὐτὸς ὁ πατήρ. σὺ μὲν οὖν ἔκρυψας τὴν αἰτίαν, ἐγὼ δὲ κηρύττω τὴν σὴν ἐκείνην ἐκβαλών, ἥ φησι κίνδυνον ἂν γενέσθαι τῷ νέῳ θέατρά τε xal πολυανθρωπίαν. ἄλλος μὲν γὰρ ἴσως τούτοις ἂν διεφθάρη, Τιτιανῷ δὲ κρείττων ἡ φύσις τῆς ἀπ’ ἐκείνων βλάβης ἀλλ ἀγαθῇ γε τύχῃ μενέτω τε καὶ πληρούσθω λόγων ἀρχαίων ἡγεμόνι τῷ γονεῖ χρώμενος.