Letter 739: Word has already reached us that your governorship is worthy of the speeches you were composing before you took office.

To Belaeus [the addressee's name, OCR-uncertain]. (362) Already a report has reached us of a tenure of office on your part worthy of the speeches which you used to compose before you took office. And this means that, together with the man who succeeds in action, the whole class of the sophists wins esteem, since after all our affairs do not lie in words alone, but even if a man should carry them over into deeds, here too he will not find us wanting. Go on, then, by this same road, and make the cities prosperous and us the more delighted, and for all men confirm the laws, but upon the kinsmen of your friends look the more gently. Now Gaudentius the rhetor is a friend to you, just as he is to me, and you would not be ashamed to proclaim that you honor this man indeed by your benefactions toward his family. For, above all, even if they happened to be neglected by your predecessors, now at least they would justly taste of a better fortune; but it has long belonged to them to have enjoyed the favor of the governors, and of all those who, having laid down their arms, came to the seat of office. So great a man is Gaudentius, and such are his ways. It is necessary, then, that now Leontius and Dorymenes obtain their request, so that in this matter too you may appear to surpass those before you.

Βηὶαίῳ. (362) Ἤδη λόγος ὡς ἡμᾶς ὰφι-κmι τῆς σῆς ἀρχῆς ἄξιος τῶι- λόγων ὧν πρὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς εἰργάζου. τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶ μετὰ τοῦ πράττοντος ἅπαν τὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος εὺδοmμ.ι-ν, ὡς οὐκ ἄρα ἐν ῥήμασι τὰ ἡμέτερα μόνον, ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰς ἔργα τις ἄγῃ κἀνταῦθα οὐ κακοὺς εὑρήσει. χώρει δὴ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν καὶ ποίει τὰς μὲν πόλεις εὐδαίμονας, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἡδίους, καὶ πᾶσι μὲν βεβαίου τοὺς νόμους, τοὺς δὲ τῶν φίλων συγγενεῖς ἡμε- ρώτερον ὅρα. φίλος δὲ σοὶ Γαυδέντιος ὁ ῥήτωρ ὥσπερ ἐμοί, καὶ οὐκ ἂν αἰσχύνοιο κηρύττων ὅτι τοῦτον μέντοι τὸν ἄνδρα τιμᾷς ταῖς εἰς τὸ τούτου γένος εὐεργεσίαις. μάλιστα μὲν γάρ, εἰ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐτύγχανον ἠμελημένοι, νῦν γε δικαίως ἂν βελτίονος ἐγεύοντο τῆς τύχης· ὑπάρχει δὲ αὐτοῖς πάλαι τῶν ἀρχόντων ἀπολελαυκέναι καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ὅπλα καταθέμενοι πρὸς τὸν θρόνον ἧκον. τοσοῦτόν ἐστι Γαυ- δέντιος καὶ οἱ τούτου τρόποι. δεῖ δὴ νῦν Λεόντιόν τε καὶ Δορυμένην τυχεῖν, ὅπως καὶ ταύτῃ νικῶν τοὺς πρότι- ρον φανείης.