Letter 149: You yourself have seen with your own eyes the distressing condition of Maximus, once a man of high reputation, but now most of all to be pitied, formerly prefect of my country. Would that he had never been so! Many, I think, would be likely to shun provincial governorships, if their dignities are likely to issue in such an end.

Trajan, You've seen for yourself the terrible state Maximus is in. He was once a highly respected man — formerly the governor of my province [Cappadocia, in modern central Turkey]. I almost wish he'd never held the office. If this is how governorships end, plenty of people would refuse them. You're sharp enough to fill in the details from what little I say, so I won't recount everything I've seen and heard. But I will say this: the abuses committed against him before you arrived were bad enough. What happened afterward made those earlier offenses look like acts of kindness. The official in charge pushed things to an extreme — outright cruelty, not just political humiliation. Now Maximus is here under guard, and unless you intervene, things will only get worse. I know I don't need to convince you to do the right thing — that's already in your nature. But I'm asking you, as a personal favor to me, to go a step further than you otherwise might. I want Maximus to see clearly that my appeal on his behalf actually made a difference for him.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Trajan. You yourself have seen with your own eyes the distressing condition of Maximus, once a man of high reputation, but now most of all to be pitied, formerly prefect of my country. Would that he had never been so! Many, I think, would be likely to shun provincial governorships, if their dignities are likely to issue in such an end. To a man, then, from the quickness of his intelligence, able from a few circumstances to conjecture the rest, I need hardly narrate in detail all that I have seen and all that I have heard. Perhaps, however, I shall not seem to be telling a superfluous story if I mention that, though many and terrible things were audaciously done against him before your coming, what went on afterwards was such as to cause the former proceedings to be reckoned as kindness; to such an excess of outrage and injury and actually of personal cruelty did the proceedings go which were afterwards taken against him by the person in authority. Now he is here with an escort to fill up the measure of his evil deeds unless you are willing to stretch out your strong hand to protect the sufferer. In urging your goodness to an act of kindness I feel that I am undertaking an unnecessary task. Yet since I desire to be serviceable to Maximus I do beg your lordship to add something for my sake to your natural zeal for what is right, to the end that he may clearly perceive that my intervention on his behalf has been of service to him.

[Πρός: Τραϊανῷ] Καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπέβαλες ὀφθαλμῷ τὴν κακοπάθειαν τοῦ πρότερον μὲν εὐδοκίμου, νῦν δὲ ἐλεεινοτάτου πάντων Μαξίμου, τοῦ ἄρξαντος τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐκ ὤφελενϲ οἶμαι γὰρ ἂν πολλοῖς ἀπευκτὴν ἔσεσθαι τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀρχήν, εἰ πρὸς τοιοῦτον πέρας μέλλουσι καταστρέφειν αἱ προστασίαι. ὥστε τί δεῖ ἡμᾶς τὰ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἀπαγγέλλειν, ὧν τε εἴδομεν, ὧν τε ἠκούσαμεν, ἀνδρὶ διὰ πολλὴν τῆς διανοίας ὀξύτητα ἱκανῷ ἐξ ὀλίγων τῶν πραχθέντων στοχάσασθαι τὰ λειπόμενα; πλὴν ἐκεῖνό γε εἰπών, ἴσως οὐ περιττός σοι φανήσομαι, ὅτι πολλῶν ὄντων καὶ δεινῶν τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν τολμηθέντων πρὸ τῆς σῆς παρουσίας, τοιαῦτα γέγονε τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα, ὡς φιλανθρωπίαν ποιῆσαι νομισθῆναι τὰ φθάσαντα. τοσαύτην εἶχεν ὑπερβολὴν ὕβρεως καὶ ζημίας καὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα κακοπαθείας, τὰ δὴ ὕστερον αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἐξευρεθέντα. καὶ νῦν ἔμφρουρος ἥκει τὰ λείψανα τῶν ὧδε κακῶν αὐτοῦ ἀποπληρώσων, ἐὰν μὴ σὺ τὴν μεγάλην σαυτοῦ χεῖρα ὑπερσχεῖν ἐθελήσῃς τῷ καταπονουμένῳ. περιττὸν μὲν οὖν οἶδα ποιῶν, τὴν σὴν χρηστότητα εἰς φιλανθρωπίαν παρακαλῶν. πλὴν ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ βούλομαι γενέσθαι χρήσιμος τῷ ἀνδρί, ἱκετεύω σου τὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν προσθεῖναί τι τῇ ἐκ φύσεως περὶ τὸ καλὸν σπουδῇ δι’ ἡμᾶς, ὥστε ἐναργὲς τῷ ἀνδρὶ γενέσθαι τῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ παρακλήσεως ἡμῶν τὸ ὄφελος.