Letter 708: Your office gave you the advantage of meeting the admirable Fortunatianus before I did.

To the same man. (362) Your office gave you the advantage over us and let you meet the excellent Fortunatianus before we did. For while we were busy with prophecies and divinations, and while one man named one day and another another on which he was likely to appear, you both had the man and entertained him at your table; and he, in turn, feasted you, as was fitting, with what he had at his disposal-a finer banquet, namely the accounts about the emperor, in which it was reported that he both loves you and is not unmindful of us. But though I am accused of not writing-both before this man and, even earlier, before the ambassadors, for you know what he said to each of them-I still cannot condemn my own silence, nor be persuaded that it would have been better for me to have sent a letter. For the charge that would then have arisen would have been harsher than the one that exists now, and would not have allowed the defendant to look his prosecutor in the face. Formerly, then, it was the greatness of the imperial majesty that made me hesitate to write; but now the very beauty of the emperor's letters makes my fear twofold. For even if the other qualities are on our side, the light that shines in his writings is not-for of all the men we know, he above all has blended strength with clarity.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (362) Ἔδωκεν ἡ ἀρχή σοι πλεονεκτῆσαι ἡμῶν καὶ προεντυχεῖν τῷ καλῷ Φουρτουνατιανῷ. ἡμῶν γὰρ ἴτ’ ἐν μαντείαις ὅντων καὶ ἄλλην ἄλλου λέγοντος ἡμέραν, εἰς ἣν αὐτὸν εἰκὸς φα- νεῖσθαι, σὺ τὸν ἄνδρα εἶχές τε καὶ εἱστίας, ἀνθειστία δὲ σὲ κἀκεῖνος, ὡς εἰκός, οἷς εἶχε, καλλίονι θοίνῃ, τοῖς πιρὶ τοῦ βασιλέως λόγοις, ἐν οἷς ἦν ὅτι καὶ σὲ φιλεῖ καὶ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀμνημονεῖ. κατηγορούμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ γράψαι καὶ παρὰ τούτῳ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον παρὰ τοῖς πρέσβεσιν, οἶσθα γὰρ ἃ πρὸς ἑκατέρους εἶπεν, οὔπω δύναμαι καταγνῶναι τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ σιωπῆς οὐδ’ ὡς ἦν μοι κάλλιον ἐπεσταλκότα εἶναι πεισθῆναι τῆς γὰρ νῦν οὔσης αἰτίας ἡ τότ’ ἂν γενομένη χαλεπωτέρα τ’ ἂν ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσα τὸν φεύγοντα ἀντιβλέπειν τῷ διώκοντι. πρότερον μὲν οὖν τὸ τῆς βασιλείας μέγεθος ὀκνεῖν ἐποίει γράφειν· νῦν δὲ δὴ καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν βασιλέως ἐπιστολῶν διπλοῦν ποιεῖ τὸν φόβον. καὶ γὰρ εἰ τὰ ἄλλα παρ’ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ’ οὐ τό γε φῶς ὅσον ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνου μάλιστα γὰρ ὧν ἴσμεν ἰσχὺν ἁνὴρ συνεκέρασε σαφηνείᾳ.