Letter 507: The noble Spectatus has captured me so completely, and so thoroughly persuaded me to devote all my attention to him,...

To Anatolius. (356/57) So thoroughly has the noble Spectatus attached me to himself, and persuaded me to give my attention to him and to count him as everything, that whoever wished to see me after sunset would run to his house and find me there at once; for indeed the books that are the sweetest of all things to me have often been judged second to him, ever since I was drawn to him away from those boyhood favorites of mine. The cause is not so much our kinship—for I have many kinsmen, none of whom works such effects upon me—but rather his character, which is full of every drug for drawing men powerfully to himself. But what most drove me out of my senses is this. He marvels at the greatness of your judgment, and whenever he calls you to mind—and he does this often—he can scarcely refrain from saying something about you. And I, looking to those present, take pride and rejoice that the listeners rejoice and cry out that your affairs are indeed so. And he has by now become even a seer, possessed by you, and foretells these things, for which we owe him a reward, but he owes you a penalty. For the prophecy that you will hold office is, to us who know what you will do, a matter of prayers; but to you—since you do not know how to profit from holding office—it is no pleasure. But even if the task is burdensome to you, do not be provoked at any rate by the word; for the task will not come about because of the word, but the seer's utterance merely runs ahead of the task.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (356/57) Οὕτω με Σπεκτάτος ὁ γενναῖος ἀνηρτήσατο καὶ προσέ- γειν ἔπεισεν αὑτῷ καὶ πάντα ἄγειν αὑτόν, ὥσθ’ ὅστις ἰδεῖν με ἐθέλοι δύντος ἡλίου, παρὰ τοῦτον ἔτρεχε καὶ εἶχεν εὐθύς καὶ γὰρ τὰ πάντων ἥδιστά μοι βιβλία πολλάκις τοῦδε ἐκρίθη δεύτερα Ἄι εἱλκόμην εἰς τοῦτον ἀπ’ ἐκείνων τῶν παιδικῶν. αἴτιον δὲ οὐχ οὕτω τὸ τῆς συγγενείας, πολλοὶ γάρ μοι συγγενεῖς, ὧν οὐδείς με τοιαῦτα ἐργάζεται , ἀλλ’ ὁ τρόπος πάντων γέμων φαρμάκων ἐπισπᾶσθαι δεινῶν. ὃ δέ με μάλιστα ἐξέμηνεν, ἐκεῖνό ἐστι. θαυμάζει τῆς σῆς γνώμης τὸ μέγε- θος κἂν μνησθῇ σου, πολλάκις δὲ τοῦτο δρᾷ, μόλις ἀφίσταται τοῦ περὶ σοῦ τι λέγειν. ἐγὼ δὲ βλέπων εἰς τοὺς παρόντας σεμνύνομαι καὶ χαίρω τῷ τοὺς ἀκροωμένους χαίρειν τε καὶ βοᾶν ὡς οὔτως ἔχοι τὰ σά. ὁ δὲ καὶ μάντις ἤδη γίνεται κατεχόμενος ὑπὸ σοῦ καὶ προλέγει ταῦτα, ὧν ἡμεῖς μὲν αὐτῷ μισθὸν ὀφείλομεν, οὗτος δὲ σοὶ δίκην. τὸ γὰρ ὡς ἄρξεις ἡμῖν μὲν εἰδόσιν ἃ ποιήσεις ἐν εὐχαῖς, σοὶ δέ, οὐ γὰρ οἶσθα κερδαίνειν ἄρχων, οὐκ ἐν ἡδονῇ. ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ βαρύ σοι τὸ ἔργον, μὴ τῷ γε ῥήματι παροξύνου· οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὸ ῥῆμα ἔσται τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλ’ ἡ τοῦ μάντεως φωνὴ φθάνει τὸ ἔργον.