Letter 765: So it is not only in guardianship of the laws and the splendor of your offices that you follow your family — you...

To Entrechius. (362) You follow your lineage, then, not only in the keeping of the laws and in the excellence of your magistracies, but you have by now also taken up that zeal which these men felt for me, or rather you have even surpassed it. For they, bound by old obligations and having been companions, were with difficulty moved by many entreaties, and even when moved they granted only small favors; but you appear to have made me the very preface of your office, as though throughout the whole road you were reminding yourself of my words. And though it is a great thing not to have neglected the mother of one's comrade, it is a greater thing not to have shrunk even from seeing her. And though this is far more splendid, it is still finer to make the deed a matter of honorable pride; for already some men, after granting a favor, have accused themselves for having granted it and have hated alike both those who persuaded them and those who were persuaded. But you, at any rate, are plainly delighted with what you have done, and will not even cease from it. So much pleasure was conveyed to me through the letters of the one who did the deed. How then can it be that we, having been well treated, should either not write to you or keep silent about you before others, whose friends you gladly behold? In seeking my letters, as though in them I lived an immortal remembrance, you seek small things in return for great ones; but for you, like that famous Iphicrates, a sky-high monument stands in Palestine, and this too although you were snatched away to another labor straight from the starting line, yet nonetheless you flashed forth from the very mark like Achilles the moment he laid hold of Troy; and it will stand far more august than your second office, and I will add that it will stand longer too, the one setting out from which you will take care no longer of a single nation, but of many together more easily than another would of one. And many of those in their prime who sing these praises will come to know it. And if indeed the contest should admit old men as well, perhaps someone will see even me stripping for it, especially since you long ago gave me your vote, and that too when there were men whom by doing this you grieved, and in a way, though a Laconian law was in force among the Athenians forbidding anyone to praise outsiders. But nonetheless you thought it right to say what you believed. May you hear these words composing praises for you.

Ἐντορεχίῳ. (362) Οὐκ ἄρα τῇ τῶν νόμων φυλακῇ καὶ τῷ κάλλει τῶν ἀρ- χῶν μόνον ἀκολουθεῖς τῷ γένει, ἀλλ’ ἤδη καὶ τὴν περὶ ἐμὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν διεδέξω σπουδήν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ παρελήλυθας. οἱ μέν γε δικαιώμασιν ἀρχαίοις κατειλημμένοι καὶ συμπε- φοιτηγότες μόλις ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἐκινοῦντο παρακλήσεων, καὶ κινηθέντες δὲ ἐχαρίζοντο μικρά· σὺ δ’ ἔοικας καὶ τὸ προοί- μιον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐμὲ πεποιῆσθαι καθάπερ διὰ πάσης τῆς ὁδοῦ σαυτὸν τῶν ἐμῶν ἀναμιμνήσκων ῥημάτων. μεγάλου δὲ ὄν- τος τοῦ μὴ παραμελῆσαι τῆς τοῦ ἑταίρου μητρὸς μεῖζόν ἐστι τὸ μηδὲ ἰδεῖν ὀκνῆσαι. τούτου δὲ ὄντος λαμπροτέρου πολὺ κάλλιον τὸ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι τῷ ἔργῳ· ὡς ἤδη τινὲς δόντες χάριν αὑτῶν ὅτι ἔδοσαν κατηγόρησαν καὶ ἐμίσησαν ὁμοίως τούς τε πείσαντας καὶ τοὺς πεπεισμένους. ἀλλὰ σύ γε δῆλος εἶ τερπόμενος οἷς ἔπραξας καὶ οὐδὲ παυσόμενος. οὕτω τις ἐκο- μίζετο διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡδονὴ. πῶς οὖν ἔστι τοὺς εὖ παθόντας ἡμᾶς ἢ πρὸς σὲ μὴ γράφειν ἢ πρὸς ἄλλους περὶ σοῦ σιγᾶν, ὧν τοὺς φίλους ἡδέως ὁρᾷς; ζητῶν δὲ ἐμὰς ἐπιστολὰς ὡς έν αὐταῖς μνήμην ἀθάνατον ἔζων μικρὰ ζητεῖς ὑπὲρ μεγάλων· σοὶ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Ἰφικράτην ἐκεῖνον ἕστηκε μὲν οὐρανομήκης ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ στήλη καὶ ταῦτα σοῦ πρὸς ἄλλον ἁρπασθέντος πόνον ἀπὸ βαλβῖδος εὐθύς, ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως ἀπὸ γραμμῆς ἐξέλαμψας ὥσπερ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἅμα τῆς Τροίας ἁψάμενος· ἑστήξει δὲ πολὺ σεμνοτέρα τῆς δευτέρας ἀρχῆς, προσθήσω δὲ ὅτι καὶ μακροτέρα, ἐξ ἧς ὁρμώμενος οὐκίτ’ ἔθνους ἑνός, ἀλλ’ ὁμοῦ πολλῶν ἐπιμελήσῃ ῥᾷον ἤ τις ἑνός. εἴσονται δὲ οἱ ταῦτα ὑμνοῦντες πολλοὶ τῶν ἀκμαζόντων. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ γέροντας ὁ ἀγὼν δέχοιτο, τάχα τις ὄψεται καὶ ἐμὲ γυμνούμενον, ἄλλως θ’ ὅτε πάλαι μοι τὴν ψῆφον ἔδωκας, καὶ ταῦτα ὄντων οὓς ταῦτα ποιῶν ἐλύπεις, κοί τινα τρόπον Λα- κωνικοῦ κειμένου παρ’ Ἀθηναίοις νόμου μηδένα τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπαινεῖν. ἀλλ’ ὅμως ᾤου δεῖν ἅπερ ἐφρόνεις λέγειν. τού τῶν δὴ τῶν λόγων ἐπαίνους σοι συντιθέντων ἀκούσαις.