Letter 501: You need a plan to deal with the scheming of your uncle -- let him keep the title "uncle" in my letters too, so...

To Andronikos. (356/57) You need counsel against the plot that comes from your uncle [theios] -- for let him be called "uncle" even in the letters, so that it may be made plain who he is and what deeds he is doing. One must dread the manner of that man's power, for he does not use it justly. But it lies with you and with me to flee. If it is your judgment to see Rome, then to Rome; but if Greece is more pleasing, then to Greece. And do not be ashamed at fleeing, for the shame falls upon the one who caused the fear. As for me, I shall bear it though I am being pelted, and should the moment ever come, I shall exact justice on behalf of us both; and the manner in which I am accustomed to exact justice, you are not ignorant of. And yet even now he pays the penalty in the eyes of one who judges rightly. For apart from the hatred with which he is hated by good men, he takes pains over the man who is never anything but a solecist [a blunderer in speech]. Demosthenes, then, might say that the things one would curse upon him, these he does of his own deliberate choice. He is an enemy to his brother's son and to that boy's teacher, but a friend to Pausanias the catamite; and he is prouder than Alcibiades, yet he does the deeds of Sicon. And what this fellow used to do, ask Aristophanes. In answer to all this, write to me toward what course you will set out; and indeed, if any hope should appear that no harm will befall you by staying, then stay -- for this is the finer of the two courses.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (356/57) Βουλῆς σοι δεῖ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θείου, καλείσθω γὰρ κἀν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς θεῖος, ὅπως φαίνηται, τίς ὢν τίνα ἔργα ἐργάζεται. δεῖ δεῖσαι τῆς ἐκείνου δυνάμεως τὸν τρόπον, οὐ γὰρ αὐτῇ χρῆται δικαίως. ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ σοὶ καὶ ἐμοὶ φυγεῖν· εἰ μέν σοι γνώμη ῾Pώμην ἰδεῖν, εἰς ῾Pώμην, εἰ δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἥδιον, εἰς Ἑλλάδα. καὶ μὴ αἰσχύνου φεύγων, τὸ γὰρ αἰσχρὸν εἰς τὸν φοβήσαντα ἔρχεται. ἐγὼ δὲ οἴσω βαλλόμενος, κἂν ἔλθῃ ποτὲ καιρός, ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν λήψομαι δίκας, τὸν δὲ τρόπον ᾧ δίκας εἴωθα λαμβάνειν, οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς. καίτοι καὶ νῦν ὀρθῶς κρίνοντι δίδωσι δίκας. ἄνευ γὰρ τοῦ μίσους ὃ μισεῖται παρὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν περὶ τὸν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε οὐ σολοικίσαντα ποιεῖται σπουδήν. εἴποι ἂν οὖν ὁ Δη- μοσθένης ὅτι ἃ καταράσαιτ’ ἄν τις αὐτῷ, ταῦτα ἐκ προαιρέσεως ποιεῖ. ἐχθρὸς μέν ἐστιν ὁδελφοῦ παιδὶ καὶ τῷ τούτου διδασκάλῳ, φίλος δὲ Παυσανίᾳ τῷ πόρ- νῳ, καὶ φρονεῖ μὲν μεῖζον Ἀλκιβιάδου, ποιεῖ δὲ τὰ Σίκωνος. ὅ τι δὲ οὗτος ἔδρα, τὸν Ἀριστοφάνην ἐροῦ. πρὸς ταῦτα ἐφ’ ὅ τι ὁρμήσεις, ἐπίστειλον, καὶ δὴ καὶ εἰ τις ἐλπὶς ὑποφαί- νοιτο μηδὲν ἔσεσθαι μένοντι κακόν, μένε· τουτὶ γὰρ ἐκείνου κάλλιον.