Letter 98: I'm calling you to do what you do best: defend those who've been wronged.

I'm calling you to do what you do best: defend those who've been wronged. This Zenobius served Elusa [a city in the Negev region] faithfully as guardian of the peace, but was driven off his land by a man who knows how to buy such things. Don't stand by while he's cheated or while I'm made a laughingstock -- since I'm known both as his patron and as someone with influence among your circle. And once you've restored his land, do one more thing: make the governor well-disposed toward him too, whether by speaking to him in person or writing in his absence. It would be better to get nothing at all than to get it along with the governor's enmity.

To Urbanus (359/60) I call upon you to run your own race when I call upon you to defend those who have been wronged. This man Zenobius here has been wronged: though he governed the peace at Elusa with scrupulous care, he has been driven from his land by a man who knows how to buy such things. Do not stand by and watch either this man suffer loss or me be made a laughingstock — I who am thought both to care for him and to have influence with you. And if you restore his land to him, secure the governor's goodwill for him as well, whether by speaking to him in person or writing to him in his absence; for it is better to obtain nothing at all than to obtain it at the cost of that man's enmity.

Οὐρβανῷ. (359/60) Ἐπὶ τὸν σὸν παρακαλῶ σε δρόμον παρακαλῶν σε τοῖς ἠδικημένοις ἀμύνειν. ἠδίκηται δὲ οὑτοσὶ Ζηνόβιος τῆς μὲν εἰρήνης ἐν Ἐλούσῃ προστὰς ἀκριβῶς, ἐκπεσὼν δὲ τῆς χώρας ὑπ’ ἀνδρὸς εἰδότος τὰ τοιαῦτα ὠνεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ σὺ μὴ πε- ριίδῃς μήτε τοῦτον ἐλαττούμενον μήτ’ ἐμὲ καταγελώμενον, ὃς τούτου τε κήδεσθαι δοκῶ καὶ παρ’ ὑμῖν δύνασθαι. κἂν ἀπο- δῷς αὐτῷ τὴν χώραν, καὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα αὐτῷ προσκατασκεύα- σον πρᾷον ἢ παρόντι διαλεχθεὶς ἢ γράψας ἀπόντι· ὡς κρεῖτ- τόν γε μηδενὸς τυχεῖν ἢ μετὰ τῆς ἔχθρας ἐκείνου τυχεῖν.