134. К Анфемию 110

Others congratulate your honor on your consulate and prefecture; I congratulate these very positions on the appointment of your magnificence to them. It was not they who adorned you, but you who adorned them with yourself. Such is the greatness of virtue: it does not borrow glory from outside, but contains it within itself, and from itself imparts honor to all kinds of civil virtues, and does not receive it from them. Therefore, we have not become at all more favorable to you now than before. Your civic elevation, in the essence of the matter, has not added anything to you: it is not the prefect and the consul that we love, but the good-natured Anthemius, my lord, a wise man, filled with great wisdom. That is why we please you, not because you sat on this chair, but because you thus received the most extensive opportunity to show your intelligence and your philanthropy. We also congratulate all those unjustly persecuted, seeing in your soul a wide pier that is able to prevent countless wrecks and give strength to the unfortunate ones who were already on the brink of destruction to sail safely again. We are happy, we are delighted to think that your accession to power is a common holiday for all the offended. And we celebrate this holiday, seeing our own triumph in the greatness of your exploits. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” Anthemius was consul with Stilicho in 405. From the Theodosian Codex (Jmperator. Honorii et Theodos. lex 14, lib. 12, titul. 12) it is clear that he was a praetorian prefect, éparxo_s twn praitwriw'n. You might be interested in: