Letter 289: My companions -- your rhetors -- the men I gave to you and you admired -- these very men who carry this letter are...

To Modestus. (359/360) My companions -- your rhetors -- the men I gave to you and you admired -- these very men who carry this letter are now the target of decrees by which certain people are trying to drag them away from your doors. And these are the same people I have repeatedly rescued from your justified anger. Or rather, it is Eusebius they threaten, while the other one they are already hauling off to a public liturgy that requires a strong body. Agroicius is so extraordinarily healthy that he has spent more money on doctors than anyone alive, being constantly in need of a physician's hands. Moreover, he has five sisters sitting at home who, because of their age, need husbands but, because of their poverty, cannot find them. For good birth counts for little these days. Reflect, then, that it would be a disgrace for me if I could not help my friends, and not honorable for you if the ancient law protecting rhetors were broken under your administration. Persuade the bolder members of the council that...

Μοδέστῳ. (359/60) Τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἑταίρους, τοὺς σοὺς ῥήτορας, τοὺς ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ σοι δοθέντας, τοὺς ὑπὸ σοῦ θαυμασθέντας, τούτους δὴ τοὺς φέροντας τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τῶν σῶν θυρῶν ἀποσπάσαι πειρῶν- ται ψηφίσμασιν ἄνδρες, οὓς ἐξειλόμην πολλάκις τῆς παρὰ σοῦ δικαίας ὀργῆς. μᾶλλον δέ, Εὐσεβίῳ μὲν ἀπειλοῦσι, τὸν δ’ ἤδη πρὸς λειτουργίαν ἕλκουσι δεομένην ἐρρωμένου σώματος. Ἀγροίκιος δὲ οὕτω σφόδρα ἔρρωται, ὥστε πλεῖστον ἀνθρώ- πων ἀργύριον ἰατροῖς ἐτέλεσεν ἀεὶ χρῄζων ἰατροῦ χειρῶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ πέντε αὐτοῖν ἔνδον ἀδελφαὶ κάθηνται δεόμεναι μὶν διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν νυμφίων, ἀποροῦσαι δὲ ὑπὸ πενίας. μικρὸν γὰρ ἡ εὐγένεια νῦν. ἐνθυμηθεὶς οὖν ὡς ἐμοί τε αἰσχύνην ἔχει, τοῖς φίλοις εἰ μὴ δυναίμην βοηθεῖν, σοί τε οὐ καλὸν νόμον παλαιὸν βοηθοῦντα ῥήτορσιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς λυθῆναι πεῖθε τῶν πολιτευομένων τοὺς θρασυτέρους ὡς οὐ πάντα αὐτοῖς ἐξέσται.