Julian

“ O most wise Dionysius, it does not happen to a virtuous and temperate man to go away obnoxious to those in power! You would have done better if you had proved to us that men from their intercourse with you were better behaved. ”

“ For must I not regard it as abuse and slander that you supposed me to be like your own friends, to each of whom you offered yourself uninvited; or rather, by the first [2] you were not invited, and you obeyed the second [3] on his merely indicating that he wished to enlist you to help him. However, whether I am like Constans and Magnentius the event itself, as they say, will prove. [4] But as for you, from what you wrote it is very plain that, in the words of the comic poet, [5]
"You are praising yourself, lady, like Astydamas." ”

“ But this was not in your power, no, by the gods, nor is it in the power of tens of thousands who emulate your way of life. For when rocks grind against rocks and stones against stones they do not benefit one another, and the stronger easily wears down the weaker. [27]
I am not saying this in Laconic fashion [28] and concisely, am I? Nay, I think that on your account I have shown myself even more talkative than Attic grasshoppers. However, in return for your drunken abuse of myself, I will inflict on you the appropriate punishment, by the grace of the gods and our lady Adrasteia. ”

“ But the very opposite, that which Hermolaus lamented that he had endured, and which was the reason for his plotting, as they say, to kill Alexander — everyone believes this about you also, do they not? I call the gods to witness that I have heard many persons assert that they were very fond of you and who made many excuses for this offence of yours, but I have found just one person who did not believe it. However he is that one swallow who does not make a spring. ”

“ You tell me indeed that it is not those who arrive offhand or those who are hunting for public office whom we ought to choose, but those who use sound judgement and in accordance with this prefer to do their duty rather than those who are ready and eager to obey. ”

“ Perhaps you do not wish to satirise them because they cannot feel it. But among the living is there anyone so foolish or so cowardly as to demand that you should take any notice of him at all, and who will not prefer if possible to be altogether ignored by you ”

“ This candid statement of Hippocrates, who had failed to find a wound in a patient's head, was often cited as a proof of a great mind; cf. Plutarch, De profectu in virtute, 82d.↑ For the reformation of Phaedo by philosophy, see Aulus Gellius 2. 18 and Julian, Vol. ”

“ Cf. Vol. 2, To Themistius, 254b, p. 204, Wright.↑ i.e. of Constans.↑ We do not know to whom Julian refers.↑ See the similar passage on p. 101. Asmus thinks that the Laurieius there mentioned and Nilus were both Cynics and therefore obnoxious to Julian.↑ A reference to the letter of Nilus, who had perhaps asked for a brief answer.↑ Cf. Misopogon 370b, vol. 2, p. 508, Wright.↑ Or "burst with the effort," cf. rumpi invidia.↑ Philostratus, Epistle 37; Momus complained that Aphrodite wore a sandal that squeaked.↑ For the plot of Hermolaus and Callisthenes against Alexander, cf. Quintus Curtius 8. 6 ”