Philostratus, Heroicus 55.2-3

After his death Achilles sings his thanks to Homer for immortalising him!

Ἀχώ, περὶ μυρίον ὕδωρ
μεγάλου ναίοισα πέρα Πόντου,
ψάλλει σε λύρα διὰ χειρὸς ἐμᾶς.
σὺ δὲ, θεῖον Ὅμηρον, ἀειδέ μοι,
κλέος ἀνέρων, κλέος ἀμετέρων πόνων,
δι’ ὃν οὐκ ἔθανον, δι’ ὃν ἔστι μοι
Πάτροκλος, δι’ ὃν ἀθανάτοις ἴσος
Αἴας ἐμός, δι’ ὃν ἁ δορίληπτος
ἀειδομένα σοφοῖς κλέος ἤρατο,
κοὐ πέσε Τροία.

Echo, you who dwell around the myriad waters beyond great Pontus, my lyre twangs for you at my hand. And you, divine Homer, sing to me, you, glory of men, glory of our labours, through whom I did not die, through whom Patroclus is mine, through whom my Ajax is the immortals’ equal, through whom Troy, sung of by skilled men for being won by the spear, carried off glory and did not fall.

Philostratus, Love Letters 2 (Kayser)

Philostratus also wrote fictional letters. This one is short but quite sweet.

πέπομφά σοι στέφανον ῥόδων, οὐ σὲ τιμῶν, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν γάρ, ἀλλ’ αὐτοῖς τι χαριζόμενος τοῖς  ῥόδοις, ἵνα μὴ μαρανθῇ.

I’ve sent you a garland of roses, not to do you honour (although I would do that), but to pay the roses themselves a favour, so that they won’t wither.

Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 555

Having been caught in two traffic holdups in two days I was reminded of this passage from Philostratus about the orator and philanthropist Herodes Atticus. Philostratus has just dismissed as unfounded a story about Herodes’ part in an alleged road-rage incident involving the future emperor Antoninus Pius. Here are the brief details of what (in Philostratus’ eyes, anyway) actually happened. The scene is Mount Ida, so we are presumably to think of a narrow mountain pass.

ὠθισμὸς μὲν γάρ τις αὐτοῖς ξυνέπεσεν, ὡς ἐν δυσχωρίᾳ καὶ στενοῖς, αἱ δὲ χεῖρες οὐδὲν παρηνόμησαν, καίτοι οὐκ ἂν παρῆκεν ὁ Δημόστρατος διελθεῖν αὐτὰ ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην δίκῃ πικρῶς οὕτω καθαψάμενος τοῦ ἀνδρός ὡς διαβάλλειν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ἐπαινούμενα.

For although they had a bit of pushing and shoving, as will happen in a cramped place and on narrow roads, they did not come to fisticuffs and thereby break the law. Indeed [if that had happened] Demostratus would not have omitted to recount this incident in his lawsuit against Herodes, when he so bitterly assailed the man that he attacked even those acts of his which are usually commended.