Letter 658: I hear that you uphold the laws in your courts, show gentleness toward the decent and severity toward those who...

To Themistius. (361) Hearing that you both uphold the laws in your judgments and employ gentleness toward the reasonable but anger toward those who deserve justice, and that you make the populace more contented through the entertainments in the theaters, I conclude that what is by nature difficult is most easy for you, namely to govern well. Consider, too, that by having preserved the household for the worthy Severus you have gained no less an ornament than those qualities I have just recounted. For it is not only the wealthy who make cities illustrious, but also all those who have endured toils on behalf of education, of whom this man is one, the man you are treating well. And I would say that those who possess this contribute even more to a city's glory than those who have acquired the other thing. Let the citizens, therefore, not suppose that the Severus descended from Severus is useless, or that he is of less worth than the ability to perform public services; nor, even when they are barking and are restrained by you, let them regard as a loss that gain which both ennobles your judgment and is a common benefit to those men.

Θεμιστίῳ. (361) Ἀκούων σε τούς τε νόμους ἐν ταῖς δίκαις βεβαιοῦν καὶ πρᾳότητι μὲν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιεικεῖς, θυμῷ δὲ χρῆσθαι πρὸς τοὺς δεομένους δίκης, τοὺς δὲ δήμους ἡδίους ποιεῖν διὰ τῶν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις χαρίτων ὅτι τὸ τῇ φύσει χαλεπὸν ῥᾷστόν ἐστί σοι, τὸ ἄρχειν καλῶς. νόμιζε δὲ τὸ τῷ χρηστῷ Σευήρῳ σεσωκέναι τὸν οἶκον μηδὲν ἥττω σοι κόσμον ὧν κατέ- λεξα τούτων ἴχειν. τὰς γὰρ πόλεις οὐχ οἱ πλουτοῦντες μόνοι ποιοῦσι λαμπράς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι πόνους ὑπὲρ παιδείας ὑπή- νεγκαν, ὧν εἷς οὗτος ὃν εὖ ποιεῖς. φαίην δ’ ἂν ὅτι καὶ μεῖζον πόλεσιν εἰς δόξαν οἱ τοῦτο ἔχοντες τῶν ἐκεῖνα κεκτημένων, μὴ οὖν ἄχρηστον οἰέσθων οἱ πολῖται Σευήρου Σευῆρον καὶ ἦττον ἢ τὸ δύνασθαι λειτουργεῖν μηδ’ ὅταν ὑλακτοῦντες ὑπὸ σοῦ κωλύωνται, ζημίαν τὸ κέρδος ἡγείσθων ὃ τήν τε σὴν σεμνύνει γνώμην καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἐκείνοις.