Letter 84: Procopius turns another request to Zacharias and Philip into a high-stakes civic petition.

Again a letter to you, and again another crowd of requests. I seem not to know the measure of asking; each new request arrives before the last has even disappeared. I can imagine you laughing together and saying that I was better when silent than when pelting you with frequent letters. Still, even if I give you amusement and delay, I cannot keep silent. As you might say, Fortune has assigned me the art of always talking, and this present matter looks toward my own need. The leading men here, by common decree, ask the highest authority to approve an easy thing: an untaxed grain-supply ship able to provide for me. They also ask that old grants be confirmed for the successors and that only the title be changed. These matters await your zeal. Bring them to completion, and you will please both me and those who petitioned you through me. If you ignore them, I suffer twice: I fail to gain what I hoped for, and I fail to gain it through you. The first brings loss; the second, shame. Still, we will surely succeed, with God nodding from above, with you serving the need, and with the highest authority voting in our favor.

Ζαχαρίαι καὶ Φιλίππωι Πάλιν ὑμῖν ἐπιστολὴ καὶ πάλιν ἕτερος ὄχλος· ἔοικα γάρ που τοῦ αἰτεῖν μὴ τάχα μέτρον εἰδέναι ἀλλὰ φθάνειν ἀεὶ τοῖς δευτέροις τὰ προλαβόντα ἀποκρύπτειν, ὑμᾶς δέ γελᾶν τε ἀλλήλοις καὶ λέγειν ὡς κρείττων ἦν σιωπῶν ἢ πυκνοῖς βάλλων τοῖς γράμμασιν. ἀλλ' ὅμως κἂν διατριβὴν ὑμῖν παρέχω καὶ γέλωτα, σιωπᾶν οὐκ ἀνέξομαι, ὡς ἂν ὑμεῖς εἴποιτε, τέχνης ἀεὶ τὸ λαλεῖν παρὰ τῆς τύχης λαχών, καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ νυνὶ πράγματος εἰς ἡμετέραν χρείαν ὁρῶντος. οἱ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῖν λογάδες ψηφίσματι κοινῷ τὴν μεγίστην ἀξιοῦ σιν ἀρχὴν ῥᾴδιον ἐπινεῦσαι πρᾶγμα, πλοῖον ἀτελὲς σιτηρέσιόν μοι χορη γῆσαι δυνάμενον· αἰτοῦσι δὲ καὶ παλαιὰς συντάξεις βεβαιωθῆναι τοῖς δια δεξαμένοις καὶ ψιλὴν μεταθεῖναι προσηγορίαν. ταῦτα τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀνα μένει σπουδήν, ταῦτα πρὸς πέρας ἐνεγκόντες κἀμοὶ χαριεῖσθε καὶ τοῖς αἰτή σασιν ὑμᾶς δι' ἐμοῦ. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα παρίδοιτε, διπλᾶ μοι συμβαίνει παθεῖν, καὶ τὸ μὴ τυχεῖν τῆς ἐλπίδος καὶ τὸ δι' ὑμῶν μὴ τυχεῖν, ὧν τὸ μὲν αἰσχύνην τὸ δὲ ζημίαν ἐργάζεται. ἀλλ' εὐτυχήσομεν πάντως, θεοῦ μὲν ἄνωθεν ἐπι νεύοντος, ὑμῶν δὲ διακονούντων τῇ χρείᾳ, ψηφιζομένης δὲ τῆς μεγίστης ἀρχῆς.