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 Manon distressed, nor could he bear to see Heliodorus brought to ruin. For I am bound to help my partner in toils, and he his foster-father; and whoever neglects those who reared him would prove himself wicked even toward his own parents. We therefore ask two things: to remit the fine which you have imposed on him as one who disobeyed -- for he has done nothing out of insolence, but perhaps out of poverty -- and not to make his levy greater than the old one, by which very levy he is already hard pressed. And he, who can barely carry what he now carries, would be sunk by even a small addition.

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.