Letter 617: In my previous letters I showed that you would rightly grant me favors, and I urged you to do well by Maximus — an...

To Acacius. (361 AD) In my previous letters I showed that you would rightly grant me favors, and I urged you to do well by Maximus — an excellent man and a friend to us — and I believe he has already received much from you. Now I must bring to completion a matter long deserving of attention but not yet resolved. In brief: it is the well-being of Maximus's household. If the bearer of this letter were not himself a rhetorician, I would lay out the case myself. But since Eusebius has acquired, along with his gift of speech, every other capability as well, why speak at length when one has such an ambassador? I would only add this: we ask for nothing outside the law, and we will be more grateful than those who seek unjust things from unjust men.

Ἀκακίῳ. (361) Ἐν μὲν τοῖς πρότερον γράμμασιν, ὅτι τε εἰκότως ἂν παρὰ σοῦ λαμβάνοιμι χάριτας, ἐδείκνυον καὶ παρεκάλουν ἐπὶ τὸ Μάξιμον ἄνδρα βέλτιστόν τε καὶ φίλον ἡμῖν εὖ ποιεῖν καὶ πιστεύω γε πολλῶν αὐτὸν ἤδη τετυχηκέναι· νῦν δέ μοι πρᾶγμα πάλαι μὲν σπουδῆς ἠξιωμένον, τέλος δὲ οὔπω λαβὸν ἐπὶ πέρας ἄγειν. ἔστι δὲ γᾶι τούτῳ τὸ τὴν οἰκίαν εὖ πάσχειν τὴν Μαξίμου. εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ ῥήτωρ ἦν ὁ κομίζων τὴν ἐπιστολήν, αὐτὸς ἂν διηγούμην· ἐπεὶ δὲ τῷ λέγειν δύνασθαι καὶ τὴν ἄλλην δύναμιν Εὐσέβιος προσεκτήσατο, τί ἄν τις μη- κύνοι πρεσβευτῇ τοιούτῳ χρώμενος; τοσοῦτο μέντοι προσ- θείην ἄν, ὡς οὔτε ἔξω τῶν νόμων οὐδὲν ἐπαγγέλλομεν πλείω τε εἰσόμεθα χάριν τῶν τὰ ἄδικα παρὰ τῶν ἀδίκων αἰτούντων.