Letter 527: By writing you honor me, but by neither granting what I asked nor explaining why you did not, you cause me pain.

To Firminus. By writing you honor me, but by neither granting what I asked nor explaining why you did not, you cause me pain. Here I go again, like a pilgrim to Delphi -- I am going to talk to you about Boethus once more. This Boethus is from the city of Elusa, a cousin of Zenobius, whom we respected even more in death than in life. You found Boethus serving as a guardian of the peace, then removed him and assigned the job to someone else. I do not blame you for that. But I do ask a favor: restore Boethus to the position he held before the change was made. If this matters earnestly to me and costs you nothing, and there is no shame attached to the favor, why not grant it?

Φιρμίνῳ (356) Τῷ μὲν ἐπιστέλλειν τιμᾷς, ὧν δὲ ἐδεήθημεν τυχεῖν, ταῦτα οὔτε ποιῶν οὔτε δηλῶν, δι’ ὅ τι μὴ ποιεῖν ἴδει, λυπεῖς. ἐγὼ δὲ αὖ Πυθῶδε· πάλιν γάρ σοι περὶ Βοηθοῦ δια- λέξομαι. ὁ δὲ Βοηθὸς οὗτος πόλεως μὲν Ἐλούσης, Ζηνοβίου δὲ ἀνεψιός, ὂν τεθνεῶτα πλέον ἢ ζῶντα αἰδούμεθα. τοῦτον εὑρὼν τῆς εἰρήνης φύλακα τὸν μὲν ἔπαυσας, ἑτέρῳ δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐπέτρεψας. καὶ οὐ μέμφομαι, χάριν δὲ ἐπαγγέλλω τὸ τὸν Βοηθὸν πάλιν ἐν οἷς ἦν πρὸ τοῦ φανῆναι. εἰ δὲ ἐμοὶ μὲν τοῦτο ἐν σπουδῇ, σοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔργον, αἰσχύνη δὲ ἄπεστι τῆς χάριτος, τί οὐ δίδως;