Letter 488: I was glad to see Ablabius for many reasons, not least because he brought me a letter from you.

To Julian. (356) I was glad to see Ablabius both for other reasons and because he was bringing me a letter from you. But we will sooner hate ourselves than find any fault with you; so thoroughly have you made it your practice to magnify our affairs, you who now even wage so long a war out of your refusal to bear it whenever anyone mentions me in some disparaging way. And yet you ought to know how to laugh as well, and to have forgiveness for those who, in order to flatter one man, slander another. For they live by flattery, and this is their livelihood, just as rowing is for sailors. But that wise man, whose character Ablabius reported to us, though he could not tell us his name, did not grieve us in other respects, but only in this one, that in mentioning me he committed solecisms, and I came to stand midway, though I am guilty of no barbarism. So persuade him to learn not to make such mistakes, and then to speak ill of me in that fashion. Or then perhaps he will not speak ill at all; but as it is now, the man is a stadium-length [of error]. But if it pains you to be reviled, and you would gladly exact a penalty, it is very easy to exact one: shut the doors on him when you are dining, and bid him dine at home, and seek no greater penalty, since as it is now he runs riot in his surfeit and drinks your wine against you. So ward off his unbridled tongue by this means, and make clear whatever in the world he is called, so that, when we write encomia upon him, he may not be praised anonymously.

Ἰουλιανῷ. (356) Τῇ τε ἄλλῃ τὸν Ἀβλάβιον εἶδον ἡδέως καὶ ὅτι μοι παρὰ σοῦ γράμματα ἦγεν. ἡμεῖς δὲ πρότερον ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς μισήσο- μεν ἢ σοί τι μεμψόμεθα· οὕτω μελέτην πεποίησαι τὸ τὰ ἡμέ- τέρα μείζω ποιεῖν, ὃς ἤδη καὶ πόλεμον πολεμεῖς οὕτω μακρὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ φέρειν, ἢν ἐμοῦ τις ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω μνησθῇ. καί- τοι σε δεῖ καὶ γελᾶν εἰδέναι καὶ συγγνώμην ἔχειν τοῖς ἵνα κολακεύωσιν ἕτερον βλασφημοῦσιν ἕτερον. ζῶσι γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ κολακεύειν καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοῖς βίος ὥσπερ τοῖς ναύταις τὸ ἐρέτ- τειν. ὁ δὲ σοφὸς ἐκεῖνος, οὗ τὸν μὲν τρόπον ἡμῖν ἤγγειλεν Ἀβλάβιος, τοὔνομα δὲ εἰπεῖν οὐκ εἶχε, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἐλύπει, τουτὶ δὲ μόνον, ὅτι μου μεμνημένος ἐσολοίκιζε καὶ μέσος ἐγινόμην οὐδὲν ἀδικῶν βαρβαρίας. πεῖσον οὖν αὐτὸν μαθόντα μὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἁμαρτάνειν, εἶτα οὕτω με λέγειν κα. κῶς. ἢ τότε γε ἴσως οὐκ ἐρεῖ κακῶς, νῦν δὲ στάδιον ἁνήρ. εἰ δὲ σὲ λοιδορῶν ἀνιᾷ καὶ λάβοις ἂν ἡδέως δίκην, ῥᾷστον λα- βεῖν· κλεῖε τὰς θύρας, ἐπειδὰν ἐσθίῃς, αὐτῷ καὶ κέλευε δει- πνεῖν αὐτὸν οἴκοι καὶ μείζω μὴ ζήτει δίκην, ὡς νῦν γε ὑβρί- ζει τῷ κόρῳ καὶ πίνει τὸν σὸν οἶνον κατὰ σοῦ. τούτῳ τε οὖν τὴν ἀκόλαστον γλῶτταν ἀμύνου καὶ ὅ τι ποτὲ καλεῖται δήλωσον, ἕν’, ὅταν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐγκώμια γράφωμεν, μὴ ἀνώνυ- μος ἐπαινῆται.