Letter 204: Your letter was a feast, as your letters always are.

To Ampelius. (360) You remember those arguments -- yours, about the need to distribute provisions as before, and mine, praising the cessation of the distribution. I hold to the same position now, but I wish to shift one small part of what was said. Just as someone once, while subjecting everyone by law to public service, exempted the descendants of Harmodius from the obligation, so I say: let no one receive the stipend except Hilarius the rhetor. He ought to have been prospering at home farming his land, but driven out by violent men he cannot even see any profit from his tongue. As the proverb says: "The Delphic man has a crown but is dying of thirst." So it is: a man may possess eloquence yet have no income from his craft. Let someone else look for the reason. This much I will say: if you do not preserve this refuge for the man, Hermes will not take it lightly, you will seem to have forgotten your beloved Cappadocia, and we shall be disheartened even if we do not complain. Come then, noble friend, persuade the excellent Elpidius to save both the man and his son. It belongs to the same virtue to take away from those who should be left alone and to let those keep who deserve it. Let him know that I myself am among those who plead on the rhetor's behalf. Perhaps this too will carry some weight. For I am convinced I am not without honor in his eyes, knowing at least this much: how to esteem a good governor.

Ἀμπελίῳ. (360) Μέμνησαι τῶν λόγων ἐκείνων, οἶς τε αὐτὸς ἐχρῶ περὶ τοῦ δεῖν τὰ πρότερα δίδοσθαι, καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν, οἳ τὸ πεπαῦσθαι τὴν δόσιν ἐπῄνουν. τοῖς αὐτοῖς δὴ καὶ νῦν ἐμμένων μι- κρόν τι τῶν εἰρημένων μεταστῆσαι βούλομαι. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἤδη τις ἐπὶ πάντας ἄγων νόμῳ τὸ λειτουργεῖν τοὺς ἀφ’ Ἁρμοδίου τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐξείλετο, οὕτως αὐτὸς λέγω· λαμβανέτω δὴ μη- δεὶς πλὴν Ἱλαρίου τοῦ ῥήτορος, ὃν ἴδει μὲν εὐδαιμονεῖν οἴκοι Ἄι γεωργεῖν, ἐξωσθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν βιασαμένων οὐδ’ ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης ὁρᾷ καρπόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· Δελγὸς ἀνὴρ στέφανον μὲν ἔχει, δίψει δ᾿ ἀπόλωλεν. οὕτως οὐ παρ’ ᾧ λόγοι, τούτῳ πρόσοδος ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης, τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν ἄλλος ζητείτω. τοῦτό γε μὴν ἐμὸν εἰπεῖν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ φυλάξαις τἀνδρὶ τήνδε τὴν καταφυγήν, οὔθ’ ὁ Ἑρ- μὴς οἴσει πρᾴως δόξεις τε ἐπιλελῆσθαι τῆς φιλτάτης σοι Καπ- παδοκίας ἡμεῖς τε ἀθυμήσομεν, κἂν μὴ μεμφώμεθα. ἀλλ’, ὦ γενναῖε, πεῖθε τὸν κράτιστον Ἐλπίδιον σώζειν καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὸν παῖδα. τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ ἀρετῆς ἀφελέσθαι τε οὓς εὔλο- γον ἐᾶν τε ἔχειν οὓς ἄξιον. ἴστω δὲ ὅτι καὶ αὐτός εἰμι τῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ῥήτορος δεομένων. ἴσως γάρ τι καὶ τοῦτο οἴσει. πεί- θομαι γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ἄτιμος ἐγὼ παρ’ αὐτῷ τοσοῦτον, εἰ μηδὲν ἄλλο, ἐπιστάμενος, ἄρχοντα ἀγαθὸν φιλεῖν.