To Apellion. (358 AD)
This Tiberius suffers a great disadvantage in his lack of connections, but he has a greater help in the fact that you govern Cilicia — you who attend no more to the well-connected than to those who speak justly.
He deserves my concern for many reasons. I may not forget Philagrius — this man's sister was married to him. And Tiberius himself attended my school and would have been a rhetorician, had anyone allowed it; but he was, I think, pulled away too soon.
Furthermore, my cousin Marcus and this man have married sisters, daughters of Hesychius. Hesychius has two sons, Eutropius and Celsus, whom I love dearly and who love me dearly in return.
Consider, then, that I am bound to care for this man by so many ties, and that you will have no excuse to offer me if you fail to act in your customary manner — which is never to be idle in any matter.
From the very things he asks of you, you will find the young man to be excellent: he knows how to request nothing that is either unjust or burdensome.
This Tiberius suffers a great disadvantage in his lack of connections, but he has a greater help in the fact that you govern Cilicia — you who attend no more to the well-connected than to those who speak justly.
He deserves my concern for many reasons. I may not forget Philagrius — this man's sister was married to him. And Tiberius himself attended my school and would have been a rhetorician, had anyone allowed it; but he was, I think, pulled away too soon.
Furthermore, my cousin Marcus and this man have married sisters, daughters of Hesychius. Hesychius has two sons, Eutropius and Celsus, whom I love dearly and who love me dearly in return.
Consider, then, that I am bound to care for this man by so many ties, and that you will have no excuse to offer me if you fail to act in your customary manner — which is never to be idle in any matter.
From the very things he asks of you, you will find the young man to be excellent: he knows how to request nothing that is either unjust or burdensome.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.