(And now if you are in any way of my opinion, it is time to proceed to those achievements that we have so admired. And lest any should think that my argument is running alone, like a horse in a race that has lost its competitor and for that reason wins and carries off the prizes, I will try to show in what way my encomium differs from that of clever rhetoricians. For they greatly admire the fact that a man is born of ancestors who had power or were kings, since they hold that the sons of the prosperous and fortunate are themselves blest. But the question that next arises they neither think of nor investigate, I mean how they employed their advantages throughout their lives. And yet, after all, this is the chief cause of that happiness, and of almost all external goods. Unless indeed someone objects to this statement that it is only by wise use of it that property becomes a good, and that it is harmful when the opposite use is made. So that it is not a great thing, as they think, to be descended from a king who was wealthy and “rich in gold,” but it is truly great, while surpassing the virtue of one’s ancestors, to behave to one’s parents in a manner beyond reproach in all respects.) Βούλεσθε οὖν εἰ τοῦτο ὑπάρχει βασελεῖ καταμαθεῖν; παρέξομαι δὲ ὑμῖν ἐγὼ μαρτυρίαν πιστὴν, [94] καί με οὐχ αἱρήσετε ψευδομαρτυρίων,(442) εὖ οἶδα· ὑπομνήσω γὰρ ὑμᾶς(443) ὧν ἴστε· τυχὸν δὲ καὶ ἤδη τοῦ λεγομένου ξυνίετε, εἴ τε οὔπω δῆλον, αὐτίκα μάλα ξυνήσετε ἐννοήσαντες πρῶτον μὲν ὡς αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ ἠγάπα διαφερόντως, οὔτι πρᾷος ὢν λίαν τοῖς ἐκγόνοις οὐδὲ τῇ φύσει πλέον ἢ τῷ τρόπῳ διδούς, ἡττώμενος δὲ οἶμαι τῆς θεραπείας καὶ οὐκ ἔχων, [B] ὄτι μέμφοιτο, δῆλος ἦν εὔνους ὤν. καὶ αὐτοῦ σημεῖον τῆς γνώμης, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι Κωνσταντίῳ ταύτην ἐξεῖλε τὴν μοῖραν, ἣν αὑτῷ πρότερον προσήκειν ἔχειν ὑπέλαβεν, εἶθ᾽ ὅτι τελευτῶν τὸν βίον, τὸν πρεσβύτατον καὶ τὸν νεώτατον ἀφεὶς σχολὴν ἄγοντας, τοῦτον δὴ ἄσχολον ἐκάλει καὶ ἐπέτρεπε τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ξύμπαντα. γενόμενος δὲ ἐγκρατὴς ἁπάντων οὕτω τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς δικαίως ἅμα καὶ σωφρόνως προσηνέχθη, ὥστε οἱ μὲν οὔτε κληθέντες οὔτε ἀφικόμενοι πρὸς [C] ἀλλήλους ἐστασίαζον καὶ διεμάχοντο, τούτῳ δὲ ἐχαλέπαινον οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἐμέμφοντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ στάσις τέλος εἶχεν οὐκ εὐτυχές, ἐξὸν μεταποιεῖσθαι πλειόνων, ἑκὼν ἀφῆκε, τῆς αὐτῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπολαμβάνων πολλά τε ἔθνη καὶ ὀλίγα δεῖσθαι, περικεῖσθαι δέ, οἶμαι, φροντίδας μείζονας ὅτῳ πλειόνων ἀνάνκη τημελεῖν καὶ(444) κήδεσθαι. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τρυφῆς ὑπολαμβάνει τὴν βασιλείαν εἶναι παρασκευὴν οὐδέ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν χρημάτων εἰς πότους [D] καὶ ἡδονὰς οἱ καταχρώμενοι μειζόνων εὐπορίαν προσόδων ἐπινοοῦσιν, οὕτω χρῆναι τὸν βασιλέα παρασκευάζεσθαι, οὐδὲ ἀναιρεῖσθαι πόλεμον, ὅ,τι μὴ τῶν ἀρχομένων τῆς ὠφελείας ἕνεκα. οὐκοῦν ἐκείνῳ μὲν ἔχειν τὸ πλέον ξυγχωρῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ ἀρετῆς ἔλαττον ἔχων τῷ κρατίστῳ πλεονεκτεῖν ὑπέλαβε. καὶ ὅτι μὴ δέει [95] μᾶλλον τῆς ἐκείνου παρασκευῆς τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἠγάπα, τεκμήριον ὑμῖν ἐμφανὲς ἔστω ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα ξυμπεσὼν πόλεμος. ἐχρήσατο γοῦν πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνου δυνάμεις ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῖς ὅπλοις ὕστερον.