Letter 667: If you did not already know from what length of time and through how many acts the friendship between us and our...

To Julian. (~361 AD) If you did not already know from what length of time and through how many acts the friendship between us and our good Makedonios was formed and grew, I would first set that out for you. But since you know what brought it into being, it will no longer seem surprising that I think I must help with a letter—I who would not even flinch from danger on behalf of friends. What has persuaded me to ask the favor is not simply that you give readily, and give all things asked of you, but that this particular request is both fine and just, and you know how to grant such things. For the man who will not even give his friends what no reproach could touch is laying hands on the daughter of Zeus [Justice], who keeps the Graces at her own threshold. That you will oblige, since what is asked is not base, is plain to everyone. Consider whether what we need can possibly be anything shameful. Makedonios is marrying a woman who had a child by a previous marriage; the child has since died. We wish the child's mother to become heir in place of the child's maternal grandfather—provided the grandfather consents to act generously, waiving the legal claim and looking to his reputation instead. Your task, then, is to persuade the man that it is a greater gain not to take such property than to take it. You will be persuasive on two counts: your rhetorical skill and the authority of your office. I hear, moreover, that the old man loves praise and looks not so much to what he will gain as to what will be said of him. Do not hesitate, then—summon him, speak with him, and arrange an outcome more humane than the law requires. And do not expect to find any excuse with us—neither by claiming that words on behalf of such matters are beneath you, nor by taking refuge in an inability to persuade. There is nothing but honor in being the cause of money for the mother and of glory for her father; and every word from you masters its listener with full force.

Ἰουλιανῷ. (361) Εἰ μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ᾔδεις, ἐξ ὅσου χρόνου καὶ δι’ ὅσων ἔργων καὶ συνέστη καὶ ηὐξήθη ἡ πρὸς τὸν χρηστὸν ἡμῖν Μα- γεδόνιον φιλία, τοῦτο πρῶτον ἐδίδασκον ἄν· εἰδότι δὲ τὰ πεποιηκότα ταύτην οὐκέτ’ ἂν φανείη θαυμαστὸν εἰ βοηθεῖν οἶμαι δεῖν διὰ γραμμάτων, ὃς οὐδὲ κίνδυνον φύγοιμ’ ἂν τὸν ὑπὲρ φίλων πέπεικε δέ με χάριν αἰτεῖν οὐ τὸ σὲ διδόναι καὶ ῥᾳδίως καὶ πάσας, ἀλλὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν εἶναι καὶ καλὴν καὶ δικαίαν, σὲ δὲ εἰδέναι τὰς τοιαύτας διδόναι· ὡς ὅστις οὐδ’ ἂν τούτων δοίη τοῖς φίλοις, ὧν οὐκ ἂν ἅψαιτο μέμψις, οὗτος ἐπιλαμβάνεται τῆς τοῦ Δῖός θυγατρός, ἣ τὰς Χάριτας ἐν προπυλαίοις ἔχει. ἀλλ’ ὅτι μὲν οὐ φαῦλα αἰτοῦσι χαριῇ, παντί που δῆλον· σκόπει δὲ ὧν χρῇζομεν εἰ δύναται μὴ τῶν αἰσχρῶν εἶναι. γαμεῖ γυναῖκα Μακεδόνιος, ᾗ παιδίον ἦν ἐκ προτέρων γάμων, τὸ δὲ οἴχεται. βουλόμεθα δὴ κληρο- νόμον ἀντὶ τοῦ πάππου τῶν τοῦ παιδίου γενέσθαι τὴν τοῦ παιδίου μητέρα πειθομένου γε τοῦ πάππου χρήσασθαι φιλο- τιμίᾳ καὶ τὸν μὲν νόμον ἀφιέντος, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἔπαινον βλέ- ποντος. σὸς τοίνυν ὁ ἆθλος πεῖσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὅτι μεῖζον κέρδος μὴ λαβεῖν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἢ λαβεῖν. ἔσῃ δὲ ἀμ- φοτέρωθεν πιθανός, ἔκ τε τοῦ δύνασθαι λέγειν καὶ τοῦ σχή- μάτος τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἀκούω δὲ καὶ τὸν πρεσβύτην εὐφημίᾳ τε χαίρειν καὶ σκοπεῖν οὐχ ὅ τι κτήσεται μᾶλλον ἢ ὅ τι ἀκούσεται. μὴ τοίνυν ὀκνήσῃς καὶ καλέσαι καἰ διαλεχθῆναι καὶ κα- τασκευάσαι πρᾶξιν φιλανθρωποτέραν νόμου μηδ’ οἴου πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπολογίαν εὑρήσειν ἢ μὴ σαυτοῦ νομίζων τοὺς ὑπὲρ τοιούτων λόγους ἢ καταφεύγων εἰς τὸ μὴ δεδυνῆσθαι πεῖσαι. πόρρω τε γὰρ αἰσχύνης, εἰ τῇ τεκούσῃ μὲν χρημάτων, τῷ πατρὶ δὲ ἐκείνης παραίτιος γένοιο δόξης, καὶ λόγος ἅπας [<ὁ> παρὰ σοῦ μετὰ πάσης ἰσχύος τὸν ἀκούοντα χειροῦται.