Letter 530: Right now we are exerting ourselves over a matter of the greatest importance, and if you are willing, you will have...

To Anatolius. (356) Now our eagerness is on behalf of the greatest matters, and you, if you are willing, will have granted the greatest things. By the same act you will both benefit us and adorn yourself; for to help those who are being wronged delivers them from their evils, and to him who delivered them it brings the better reputation. Consider how many things summon you toward being an ally. Apolinarius is being dragged off by men into Italy, by men who have devoured many cities, so that they may swallow this one too. Let this be the first thing to move you: he is a worthy man, both among those who take pride in their lineage and among those who are versed in letters. Let these three things urge you on in his behalf. He has been our friend, having begun long ago, and ever adding to his loving. With you as judge, this counts for more than those other things. Hear, then, the greatest point as well: for he is the brother of Quirinus, who in his magistracies imitated your hands, keeping them within and nowhere stretching them out [that is, not extending them to take bribes]. This Quirinus keeps two continual cares in his soul, me and his son; for he is concerned about the one, that he may take up eloquence, and about me, that I may seem to prevail in eloquence. And seeing his brother harried, he was not ignorant of the one and only hope, your manliness; but he bade me send a letter, while he himself shrank from sending one, going wrong in this one thing only, that he is a timid orator. But you, both feeling respect on this account toward him and bearing the rest in mind, requite the brother of this man with this man's earnestness toward me.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (356) Νῦν ἡμῖν τε ὑπὲρ τῶν μεγίστων ἡ σπουδὴ καὶ σὺ βου- ληθεὶς τὰ μέγιστα ἔση δεδωκώς. τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὀνή- σεῖς καὶ σαυτὸν κοσμήσεις· τὸ γὰρ ἀδικουμένοις βοηθεῖν τοὺς μὲν ἀπαλλάττει τῶν κακῶν, τῷ δὲ ἀπαλλάξαντι τὴν ἀμείνω δόξαν φέρει. σκόπει δὲ ὅσα σε παρακαλεῖ πρὸς τὸ συμ- μαχεῖν. ἕλκεται παρ’ ἀνδρῶν Ἀπολινάριος εἰς Ἰταλίαν πολλὰς πόλεις ἐδηδοκότων, ὅπως καὶ τοῦτον καταπίοιεν. τοῦτό σε πρῶτον κινείτω· χρηστὸς ἁνὴρ καὶ τῶν γένει σεμνυνομένων καὶ τῶν ἐν λόγοις ὄντων. τρία ταῦτά σε ἐπ’ ἐκείνῳ προτρε- πέτω. φίλος ἡμῖν πάλαι μὲν ἀρξάμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ τῷ φιλεῖν προστεθεικώς. τοῦτ᾿ ἐκείνων παρὰ σοὶ κριτῇ μεῖζον. ἄκουε δὴ καὶ τὸ μέγιστον· Κυρίνου γὰρ ἀδελφός, ὃς ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τὰς σὰς ἐμιμήσατο χεῖρας εἴσω ·μὲν αὐτὰς ἔχων, προτείνας δὲ οὐδαμοῦ. οὗτος ὁ Κυρῖνος δύο μὲν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ φυλάττει συνεχεῖς φροντίδας, ἐμέ τε καὶ τὸν υἱόν, μέλει γὰρ αὐτῷ τοῦ μέν, ὅπως λήψεται λόγους, ἐμοῦ δέ, ὅπως δόξω κρατεῖν ἐν λόγοις. ὁρῶν δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐλαυνόμενον τὴν μόνην μὲν οὐκ ἠγνόησεν ἐλπίδα, τὴν σὴν ἀνδρίαν, γράμματα δὲ πέμψαι μὲν ἐκέλευσεν ἐμέ, πέμψαι δὲ ὤκνησεν αὐτὸς ‘ὲν τοῦτο μόνον ἁμαρτάνων, ὅτι ῥήτωρ ἐστὶν ἄτολμος. σὺ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο αἰδεσθεὶς αὐτοῦ καὶ τἄλλα ἐνθυμηθεὶς ζήλωσον πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν τούτου τὴν τούτου πρὸς ἐμὲ σπουδήν.