Letter 204: Your letter was a feast, as your letters always are.

To Ampelius. (360) You remember those arguments, both the ones you yourself used about the necessity of granting what had previously been given, and mine, which approved that the giving had been stopped. Abiding by these same positions even now, I wish nevertheless to alter a little of what was said. For just as someone, once leading all men by law to perform public service, exempted the descendants of Harmodius from that compulsion, so do I myself speak: let no one receive [the exemption] except Hilarius the rhetorician, whom one ought to see prospering at home and farming his land, but who, having been thrust out by those who used force against him, does not even reap any fruit from his tongue, but rather, as the proverb has it: "The man of Delphi has the garland, yet perishes of thirst." Thus it is not the man who possesses eloquence who gains income from his art; let someone else inquire into the cause. This at least is for me to say: that, if you do not preserve for the man this refuge, neither will Hermes bear it gently, and you will seem to have forgotten your dearly beloved Cappadocia, and we shall be disheartened, even if we make no complaint. But, O noble one, persuade the most excellent Elpidius to save both the man and the boy. It belongs to the same virtue both to take away [exemptions] from those whom it is reasonable to release, and to allow those to keep them who are worthy. And let him know that I too am among those who entreat on behalf of the rhetorician. For perhaps this also will carry some weight. For I am persuaded that I am not so dishonored in his eyes, if for no other reason, since I know how to love a good ruler.

Ἀμπελίῳ. (360) Μέμνησαι τῶν λόγων ἐκείνων, οἶς τε αὐτὸς ἐχρῶ περὶ τοῦ δεῖν τὰ πρότερα δίδοσθαι, καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν, οἳ τὸ πεπαῦσθαι τὴν δόσιν ἐπῄνουν. τοῖς αὐτοῖς δὴ καὶ νῦν ἐμμένων μι- κρόν τι τῶν εἰρημένων μεταστῆσαι βούλομαι. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἤδη τις ἐπὶ πάντας ἄγων νόμῳ τὸ λειτουργεῖν τοὺς ἀφ’ Ἁρμοδίου τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐξείλετο, οὕτως αὐτὸς λέγω· λαμβανέτω δὴ μη- δεὶς πλὴν Ἱλαρίου τοῦ ῥήτορος, ὃν ἴδει μὲν εὐδαιμονεῖν οἴκοι Ἄι γεωργεῖν, ἐξωσθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν βιασαμένων οὐδ’ ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης ὁρᾷ καρπόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· Δελγὸς ἀνὴρ στέφανον μὲν ἔχει, δίψει δ᾿ ἀπόλωλεν. οὕτως οὐ παρ’ ᾧ λόγοι, τούτῳ πρόσοδος ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης, τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν ἄλλος ζητείτω. τοῦτό γε μὴν ἐμὸν εἰπεῖν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ φυλάξαις τἀνδρὶ τήνδε τὴν καταφυγήν, οὔθ’ ὁ Ἑρ- μὴς οἴσει πρᾴως δόξεις τε ἐπιλελῆσθαι τῆς φιλτάτης σοι Καπ- παδοκίας ἡμεῖς τε ἀθυμήσομεν, κἂν μὴ μεμφώμεθα. ἀλλ’, ὦ γενναῖε, πεῖθε τὸν κράτιστον Ἐλπίδιον σώζειν καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὸν παῖδα. τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ ἀρετῆς ἀφελέσθαι τε οὓς εὔλο- γον ἐᾶν τε ἔχειν οὓς ἄξιον. ἴστω δὲ ὅτι καὶ αὐτός εἰμι τῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ῥήτορος δεομένων. ἴσως γάρ τι καὶ τοῦτο οἴσει. πεί- θομαι γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ἄτιμος ἐγὼ παρ’ αὐτῷ τοσοῦτον, εἰ μηδὲν ἄλλο, ἐπιστάμενος, ἄρχοντα ἀγαθὸν φιλεῖν.