Letter 4: To Antipater (1-5)

Although it is dangerous for us here in Athens to send a letter to Macedonia, not only now when we are at war with you,[*] but even in time of peace, nevertheless I have decided to write to you concerning Diodotus,[*] as I think it only right to esteem highly all those who have been my pupils and who have shown themselves worthy disciples, and not the least among them this man both because of his devotion to me and of the general probity of his character.

I wish that if possible I might have been the means of his introduction to you; since, however, he has already met you through the kindness of others, it remains for me to give my testimony concerning him and to strengthen the acquaintance which he already has with you. For although many men of various countries have been my pupils[*] and some of these are of great repute, and while of all the others some have proved to be distinguished for eloquence alone, and others in intellect and in practical affairs, and still others have indeed been men of sobriety of life and cultivated tastes, but for general usefulness in the practical affairs of life utterly devoid of natural ability,

yet Diodotus has been endowed with a nature so well balanced that in all the attributes I have named he is quite perfect.

All this I should not dare to say of him if I did not possess the most precise knowledge of him gained by experience, and if I were not anticipating that you would gain the same,

partly through your own association with him and partly from the testimony of his acquaintances, of whom there is no one who would not agree, unless he be exceedingly envious, that Diodotus is inferior to none in eloquence and counsel, and that he is very honest, temperate, and self-controlled in respect to money; nay more, to spend the day with and to live with he is a most charming and agreeable[*] companion. In addition to these good qualities he possesses frankness in the highest degree, not that outspokenness which is objectionable, but that which would rightly be regarded as the surest indication of devotion to his friends.

This is the sort of frankness which princes, if they have worthy and fitting greatness of soul, honor as being useful, while those whose natural gifts are weaker than the powers they possess take such frankness ill, as if it forced them to act in some degree contrary to their desires—ignorant as they are that those who dare to speak out most fearlessly in opposition to measures in which expediency is the issue are the very persons who can provide them with more power than others to accomplish what they wish.