Letter 303: Since you love eloquence and honor those who practice it, I send you this young man with confidence.

To Siderius. (361?) I could not bear to see Manos in distress, nor could he bear to see Heliodorus ruined. I am bound to help my companion in labor, and he is bound to help his foster-father. Anyone who neglects a foster-father would prove a bad son even to his own parents. We ask two things: first, remit the fine you imposed on him for disobedience -- he acted not from insolence but perhaps from poverty; second, do not increase his tax burden beyond the original amount, under which he was already crushed. He can barely carry what he bears now, and even a small addition would sink him.

Σιδηρίῳ. (361?) Οὔθ᾿ Μανὸν ἐγὼ δυναίμην ἂν περιιδεῖν λυπούμε- νον οὔθ’ Ἡλιόδωρον ἐκεῖνος ἀπολλύμενον. ἐμέ τε γὰρ ἀνάγκη βοηθεῖν τῷ κοινωνῷ τῶν πόνων ἐκεῖνόν τε τῷ τροφεῖ. τρο- φέων δὲ ὅστις ἀμελεῖ, κἂν περὶ γονέας γένοιτο κακός. δύο τοίνυν αἰτοῦμεν, λῦσαί τε τὴν ζημίαν ἣν ἐπιβέβληκας ὡς ἀπειθοῦντι, πεποίηκε γὰρ ὕβρει μὲν οὐδέν, πενίᾳ δὲ ἴσως, καὶ τὴν φορὰν αὐτῷ μὴ πλείω ποιῆσαι τῆς ἀρχαίας, ὑφ’ ἧς καὶ αὐτῆς πεπίεσται. ὁ δὲ μόλις ἃ νῦν φέρει φέρων ὑπὸ μικρᾶς ἂν βαπτισθείη προσθήκης.