Letter 263: We are not unaware of the principles with which you approach your office, and knowing them we do what friends...

To Ecdicius. (360) We are not unaware of the principles with which you approach your office, and knowing them we do what friends naturally do in such circumstances. I congratulate Maximus on the honor he has received from you, and I have hopes that his son, too, will enjoy some measure of your goodwill. I had wanted the young man to become one of the advocates, and I often praised to Hyperechius both the labors of that profession and the reputation those labors bring. But when the young man looked in a different direction, thinking he would prosper faster by another route, I could not bring myself to abandon him. Instead, I found myself forced to help with the very plans I had tried to discourage -- unable to convince him of the other path. I lent my presence here for the foundation and now reach out by letter there for the completion, having used friends here for the groundwork and now writing to a friend about the capstone. I should find it easier to succeed with you than with the others -- not only because you have been my friend for a long time, while they barely knew me and I them, but also because in obliging me you will be doing a good turn for a fellow citizen. That was not the case with the others. But do not cry out "favor!" when you hear this. It is possible to grant a favor even while upholding justice, when the favor matters greatly to the one who simply asks not to be wronged beyond what is right. And that may be what happens here. If the circumstances allow it, and your judgment does not stand in the way, we will owe the kindness to you no less than to the circumstances. In this way the city will suffer no wrong, and you will be inscribed among our benefactors.

Ἐκδικίῳ. (360) Οὔτ᾿ ἀγνοοῦμέν σου τὴν γνώμην ἣν ἔχων τυγχάνεις περὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰδότες τε ὅπερ εἰκὸς φίλους ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιού- τοις ποιοῦμεν. Μαξίμῳ δὲ συγχαίρων τῆς παρὰ σοῦ τιμῆς ἐλπίδας ἔχω καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἐκείνου τεύξεσθαί τινος εὐνοίας. ὃν ἐβουλόμην μὲν ἕνα τῶν παρὰ συνηγόρων εἶναι καὶ πολλάκις γε πρὸς τὸν Ὑπερέχιον ἐπήνεσα τούς τε περὶ ταῦτα πόνους τό τε ἀπὸ τῶν πόνων ὄνομα, βλέψαντα δὲ ἑτέρωσε καὶ νομίσαντα θᾶττον ἐκείνως εὖ πράξειν οὐδ’ οὕτως ἠδυνήθην ἐγκαταλιπεῖν, ἀλλ’ ὧν ἀφεῖλκον, ἐπὶ ταῦτα συμπράττειν ἠναγ- καζόμην οὐ πεπεικὼς ἐκεῖνα καὶ τῶν τε ἐνταυθοῖ συνεφη- ψάμην παρὼν τῶν τε ἐκεῖ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἐφάπτομαι φί- λοις μὲν ἐνταῦθα χρησάμενος εἰς τὴν κρηπῖδα, φίλῳ δὲ ἐπι- στέλλων ὑπὲρ τοῦ τέλους. εἰκὸς δέ με τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ῥᾷον τυγχάνειν, οὐ μόνον ὅτι σὺ μέν μοι πάλαι φίλος, οἱ δὲ χθὲς ὡς εἰπεῖν ἔγνωσάν τε καὶ ἐγνώσθησαν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι καὶ πολίτην εὖ ποιήσεις ἐν οἶς ἐμοὶ χαριῇ. τοῖς δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐγίγνετο. ἀλλ’ ὅπως μὴ βοήσῃς ἀκούσας χάριν. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ τὸ δί- τηροῦντα χαρίσασθαι τῷ μέγα ποιουμένῳ μὴ τῶν δικαίων ἔξω παθεῖν κακῶς. ὃ καὶ νῦν ἴσως ἔσται. τῶν πραγμάτων γὰρ ἀφιέντων, ἂν μὴ τὸ σὸν ἀντιστῇ, σοὶ τὴν χάριν οὐχ ἧτ- τον ἢ τοῖς πράγμασι σχήσομεν. καὶ οὕτως ἡ πόλις οὐδὲν ἀδι- κήσεται, σὺ δ’ ἡμῖν ἐν εὐεργέταις γεγράψῃ.