Letter 552: Spectatus did something as good as if you had told me yourself: he wrote to say that you love me.

To Mygdonius. (357) Spectatus has done something tantamount to this very thing, in writing to tell me that you love me, just as though you were speaking to me yourself. For at Athens you discharged toward me all the offices of a parent, and on this account I first took courage with you alone. But most of all because, when I was passing my time in Bithynia, having escaped the thunderbolt that was there, you alone, in the midst of many, were fighting against those who had cast me out toward Thrace, crying aloud on behalf of what was just. And so Nicocles too, on account of your manly courage on our behalf, made you his friend, though he hated me; yet at that time he admired you, because you did not betray me in order to do him a favor. And indeed, when you were sailing toward your estate, catching sight of me on the shore not far from Chalcedon, you bade the sailor stay where I was standing, and disembarking you embraced me while Nicocles watched from the boat. What wonder is it, then, if the man by whom those things were done persuades this most excellent Musonius to think something better about us? For you imitate the good runners, whose second efforts are always the better. Add then, to your toils of that time and your praises of the present, the zeal toward this Letoius here, who, though he is able to take pride both in the distinction of his family and in the splendor of his public services and in his power of speaking, would rather seem to be someone from his character than from the things I have mentioned. This man neither did good fortune ever lift up, nor in difficulty did he cower, mindful of Euripides. And such a friend is he as you are too, one who would sooner accept death than become base toward a companion - this very quality of yours; but indeed his zeal toward me is so great that you could not seek a greater. And I can repay the man in kind, if you should be willing. For to him, in place of all things, it would be the easiest of all if Musonius were to look upon him with favor and to render that man such toward you. Let him learn, then, that, of all those from whom he carries letters, these have benefited him most - those which he bears from us who wear the philosopher's cloak.

Μυγδονίῳ. (357) Ἶσον τι πεποίηκε Σπεκτάτος ὅτι με φιλεῖς ἐπιστείλας, ὥσπερ εἰ πρὸς ἐμὲ ἔλεγες. σὺ γὰρ Ἀθήνησί γε τὰ γονέων ἐπλήρωσας εἰς ἐμὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὲν πρῶτον μόνῳ ἐθάρρησα σοί. μάλιστα δέ, ἐπειδή, ὅτε διῆγον ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ τὸν σκηπτὸν ἐκεῖ ὂν ἐκφυγών, σὺ τοῖς ἐκβαλοῦσιν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἐμάχου μό- νος ἐν μέσῳ πολλῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίων βοῶν. ὥστε σε καὶ Νικοκλῆς ἐκ τῆς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνδρίας ἐποιήσατο φίλον μισῶν μὲν ἐμέ, τότε δὲ σὲ θαυμάσας, ὅτι με οὐ προὔδωκας, ὅπως ἐκείνῳ χαρίσαιο. καὶ δὴ καὶ ὅτε πρὸς τὸν ἀγρὸν ἐπλεῖτε, κατι- δών με ἐπὶ τῆς ἠιόνος οὐ πόρρω Χαλκηδόνος κελεύσας τὸν ναύτην ἔχειν οὗπερ εἱστήκειν, ἐκβὰς ἠσπάζου Νικοκλέους ὁρῶντος ἀπὸ τοῦ πλοίου. τί οὖν θαυμαστὸν εἰ ᾧ πέ- πρακται ἐκεῖνα, τὸν ἄριστον οὑτοσὶ Μουσώνιον πείθει τι δο- ξάζειν περὶ ἡμῶν ἄμεινον; μιμῇ γὰρ τῶν δρομέων τοὺς ἀγα- θούς, ὧν ἀεὶ τὰ δεύτερα βελτίω. πρόσθες δὴ καὶ τοῖς τότε πόνοις καὶ τοῖς νῦν ἐπαίνοις τὴν εἰς Λητόιον τουτονὶ προ- θυμίαν, ὃς ἔχων φιλοτιμεῖσθαι καὶ γένους ἐπιφανείᾳ καὶ λει- τουργιῶν λαμπρότητι καὶ τῷ δύνασθαι λέγειν βούλοιτ’ ἂν ἀπὸ τρόπων ἢ ὧν εἷπον εἶναί τις δοκεῖν. τοῦτον οὔτε εὐ- τυχία πώποτε ἐπῆρεν ἐν δυσκολίᾳ τε οὐκ ἔπτηξεν Εὐριπίδου μεμνημένος. φίλος δὲ τοιοῦτος ὁποῖος καὶ σύ, θᾶττον ἂν δε- ξάμενος τελευτὴν ἢ κακὸς εἰς ἑταῖρον γίνεσθαι, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ σόν, ἀλλὰ μὴν ἥ γε πρὸς ἐμὲ σπουδὴ τοσαύτη ὥστε οὐκ ἂν μείζω ζητήσαις. ἔχω δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα ἀντευποιεῖν, εἰ βουλη- θείης. τούτῳ τε γὰρ ἀντὶ πάντων, εἰ Μουσώνιος αὐτὸν εὐ- μενῶς ἴδοι σοί τε ἐκεῖνον καταστῆσαι τοιοῦτον ῥᾷστον ἁπάν- των. μαθέτω δὴ ὅτι, παρ’ ὅσων κομίζει γράμματα, ταῦτα μάλιστα αὐτὸν ὤνησεν ἃ παρ’ ἡμῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ τρίβωνι φέρει.