(When she had, in the beginning, secured her husband’s good‐will for her actions like a “frontage shining from afar,” to use the words of the great poet Pindar,(551) she forthwith showered honours on all her family and kinsfolk, appointing to more important functions those who had already been tested and were of mature age, and making them seem fortunate and enviable, and she won for them the Emperor’s friendship and laid the foundation of their present prosperity. And if anyone thinks, what is in fact true, that on their own account they are worthy of honour, he will applaud her all the more. For it is evident that it was their merit, far more than the ties of kinship, that she rewarded; and one could hardly pay her a higher compliment than that. Such then was her treatment of these. And to all who, since they were still obscure on account of their youth, needed recognition of any sort, she awarded lesser honours. In fact she left nothing undone to help one and all. And not only on her kinsfolk has she conferred such benefits, but whenever she learned that ties of friendship used to exist with her ancestors, she has not allowed it to be unprofitable to those who owned such ties, but she honours them, I understand, no less than her own kinsfolk, and to all whom she regards as her father’s friends she dispensed wonderful rewards for their friendship.) Ἐγὲ δέ, ἐπειδή μοι τεκμηρίων καθάπερ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ τὸν λόγον ὁρῶ δεόμενον, αὐτὸς ὑμῖν ἐμαυτὸν τούτων ἐκείνῳ(552) μάρτυρα καὶ ἐπαινέτην παρέξομαι· ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως μου μή ποτε ὑπιδόμενοι τὴν μαρτυρίαν πρὶν ἐπακοῦσαι τῶν λόγων διαταράττησθε, ὄμνυμι ὑμῖν, ὡς οὐδὲν ψεῦδος οὐδὲ πλάσμα ἐρῶ· ὑμεῖς δὲ κἂν ἀνωμότῳ ἐπιστεύσατε πάντα οὐ κολακείας ἕνεκα λέγειν(553). [117] ἔχω γὰρ ἤδη τοῦ θεοῦ διδόντος καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἅπαντα τὰ ἀγαθά, αὐτῆς γε οἶμαι καὶ ταύτης(554) ξυμπροθυμουμένης, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἄν τις κολακεύων ἅπαντα ἀφείη ῥήματα, ὥστε, εἰ μὲν πρὸ τούτων ἔλεγον, ἴσως ἐχρῆν ὀρρωδεῖν τὴν ἄδικον ὑποψίαν· νῦν δὲ ἐν ταύτῃ γεγονὼς τῇ τύχῃ καὶ ἀπομνημονεύων τῶν ἐκείνης εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ἔργων παρέξομαι ὑμῖν εὐγνωμοσύνης μὲν ἐμαυτοῦ σημεῖον, μαρτύριον δὲ ἀληθὲς τῶν ἐκείνης ἔργων. [B] πυνθάνομαι γὰρ δὴ καὶ Δαρεῖον, ἕως ἔτι δορυφόρος ἦν τοῦ Περσῶν μονάρχου, τῷ Σαμίῳ ξένῳ περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον συμβαλεῖν φεύγοντι τὴν αὑτοῦ, καὶ λαβόντα φοινικίδα τινὰ δῶρον, οὗ σφόδρα ἐπεθύμει, τὴν Σαμίων ὕστερον ἀντιδοῦναι τυραννίδα, ὁπηνίκα, οἶμαι, τῆς Ἀσίας ἁπάσης κύριος κατέστη. εἰ δὴ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς πολλὰ μὲν παρ᾽ αὐτῆς, ὅτε ἔτι ζῆν ἐξῆν ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ, τὰ μέγιστα δὲ δι᾽ αὐτὴν παρὰ τοῦ γενναίου [C] καὶ μεγαλόφρονος βασιλέως λαβὼν ὁμολογοίην τοῦ μὲν ἀντιδοῦναι τὴν ἴσην λείπεσθαι· ἔχει γάρ, οἶμαι, ξύμπαντα παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καὶ ἡμῖν χαρισαμένου λαβοῦσα· τῷ βούλεσθαι δὲ τὴν μνήμην ἀθάνατον αὐτῇ τῶν ἔργων γενέσθαι καὶ ἐς ὑμᾶς ταῦτα ἀπαγγέλλειν τυχὸν οὐκ ἀγνωμονέστερος φανοῦμαι τοῦ Πέρσου, εἴπερ εἰς τὴν γνώμην ὁρῶντα χρὴ κρίνειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὅτῳ παρέσχεν ἡ τύχη πολλαπλάσιον ἀποτῖσαι τὸ εὐεργέτημα.