Letters of Julian/Letter 45

by Julian

45. To Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt^[1]

[362, October, from Antioch]

As the proverb says, "You told me my own dream."^[2] And I fancy that I am relating to you your own waking vision. The Nile, they tell me, had risen in full flood, cubits high, and has inundated the whole of Egypt. If you want to hear the figures, it had risen fifteen cubits^[3] on the twentieth of September. Theophilus, the military prefect, informs me of this. So, if you did not know it, hear it from me, and let it rejoice your heart.

Footnotes

1. For Ecdicius see Letter 49.
2. Cf. "Queen Anne is dead." Ecdicius presumably knew what Julian tells him.
3. Pliny, Natural History 5. 9, says that a rise of 15 cubits gives Egypt security, 16 is luxury; Ammianus 22. 15 says that cultivators fear a rise of more than 16 cubits. The Egyptian cubit was about 22 inches.