Letter 676

To Heliodorus. (361) Consider me a father to Helladius's daughters as well. He sired them, but they are loved by both of us — for many reasons, and especially for what their mother said to me as she lay dying, words I could neither cast from my mind nor fail to honor while I remember them. Come then, good sir, and tell me: have you become a different man, or are you the same as before? Better yet, set aside words and show me by some deed — for we must, by every obligation, find the girl a husband.

Ἡλιοδώρῳ. (361) Τῶν Ἑλλαδίου θυγατέρων καὶ ἐμὲ νομιζε πατέρα. ἔσπειρε μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, φιλοῦνται δὲ ὑπ’ ἀμφοτέρωι ἄλλων τε εἵνεκα πολλῶν καὶ ὧν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῶν ἔφη πρός με μέλλουσα τελευ- τᾶν, ἃ οὔτε ἐκβάλλειν τῆς ψυχῆς δυναίμην ἂν οὔτε μὴ ποιεῖν μεμνημένος ἴθι οὖν, ὦ βέλτιστε, φράσον, εἴτ’ ἄλλος γέγο- νας εἴτε τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἶ, μᾶλλον δέ, τοὺς λόγους ἀφεὶς ἔργον τι δεῖξον ὡς ἡμῖν πολλαχόθεν ἀνάγκη ζευγνύναι τὴν παρθένον.