Letter 314: I shared your grief at losing your wife, but I also shared your pride in bearing the misfortune nobly.

To Sebastianus. (357) I shared your grief at losing your wife, but I also shared your pride in bearing the misfortune nobly. The first was an insult of Fortune; the second shows virtue. You will also find in Rhetorius here no small consolation -- a man who has traveled through the works of many orators and no fewer poets, and who is accomplished in both. My letter makes him your friend, and his having studied alongside your relatives strengthens the bond. Two great things make me well-disposed to him in turn: he is my student and the son of my teacher. You surely know Didymus, unless you are ignorant of the Great City [Alexandria] itself, where he shared his learning day and night, flowing like a river. But see to it that Rhetorius gains possession of the properties for which he has come. They are small, but they are a comfort to a poor man, and Rhetorius is not wealthy. You have power in Egypt, through which others have made money but you have earned a good reputation through your alliance with justice.

Σεβαστιανῷ. (357) Συνηχθέσθην μέν σοι τὴν γυναῖκα ἀποβαλόντι, συνή- σθην δὲ τὴν συμφορὰν γενναίως ἐνεγκόντι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐπή- ρειαν Τύχης, τὸ δὲ δείκνυσιν ἀρετήν. ἕξεις δὲ καὶ τουτονὶ Ῥητόριον οὐ φαύλην παραψυχὴν διὰ πολλῶν μὲν ῥητόρων, οὐκ ἐλαττόνων δὲ ποιητῶν ἀφιγμένον καὶ ὄντα ἀγαθὸν καὶ τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο. σὲ μὲν οὖν αὐτῷ φίλον ποιεῖ τά τε ἐμὰ γράμματα καὶ τὸ τοῖς σοῖς οἰκείοις συμπεφοιτηκέναι τὸν ἄν- δρᾶ, τούτῳ δὲ εὔνουν ἐμὲ δύο τὰ μέγιστα ποιεῖ. μαθητὴς γὰρ ὢν ἐμὸς διδασκάλου μοι παῖς ἐστι, πάντως δὲ τὸν Δίδυμον οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὴν Μεγάλην ἀγνοεῖς πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ τῆς αὑτοῦ παιδείας ἐκεῖνος μετεδίδου νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν ῥέων ἀλλ’ ὅπως οὗτος ἐγκρατὴς γένοιτο τῶν κτημάτων, ἐφ ἅπερ ἥκει. μικρὰ μὲν γὰρ ταῦτα, πένητι δὲ παραμυθία, Ῥη- τόριος δὲ τῶν οὐκ εὐπόρων. ἔστι δέ σοι δύναμις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, δι’ ἧς οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι χρήματα εἰργάσαντο, σὺ δὲ δόξαν ἀγα- θὴν τῇ πρὸς τὸ δίκαιον συμμαχίᾳ.