Letter 222: You will notice that my letters grow longer as your term in office continues.

To the assessors of Elpidius. (360) Come, friends, stand by me. You find many such appeals among the poets, and those who hear them heeding them fairly and contributing their own part as well. So you too stand by, and let each man from his own quarter stretch out a hand to a man who is far from baseness, but in misfortune. And consider that you could not rejoice with your own selves, if you will not give help. If a sailor is being beaten by someone, seeing other sailors he begs them to help, saying that he too is one of those who have sailed much. And they, at once calling to mind the sea and the things of the sea, some of them rescued the man being wronged, and this was enough for them, while others even fell upon the insolent fellow and beat him down together. And I have seen farmers doing the like in like cases, and leather-workers indeed, and coppersmiths. And as for the soldiers, by Heracles, it is easier to hold back fire than to hold these men back in such matters. But the one thing that everywhere persuades men to share another's anger is to live amid the same pursuits. And now you live in eloquence, and Acontius too lives in it, and your patron is the god himself, Hermes, son of Zeus. A wretched and goad-like little man has set upon the orator. Who, then, will stop up this man's mouth? Who will knock out his goad? To what allies must he take refuge, passing over you, who would with good reason choose to defend him, and who have the power that comes from the Muses, by whom you have been stationed where you are? And I would not be writing these things, did I not know that this man is good at his declamation, and that the noble Elpidius does not hate all those who stand under accusation, but, of those under accusation, [only] the wrongdoers. And if you do what is just, this man will appear not such as the accuser alleged, but such as we know him to be.

Τοῖς Ἐλπιδίου παρέδροις. (360) Ἀλλὰ φίλοι, πάρστητε. καὶ πολλὰς τοιαύτας παρακλή- σεις εὑρίσκετε παρὰ τοῖς ποιηταῖς καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἐπιει- κῶς ὑπακούοντας καὶ τὰ παρ’ αὑτῶν εἰσφέροντας. παράστητε δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς καὶ χεῖρα ἄλλος ἄλλοθεν ὀρεγέτω πόρρω μὲν ἀν- θρώπῳ κακίας, ἀτυχοῦντι δέ. σκοπεῖτε δὲ ὡς οὐκ ἂν ὑμῖν αὐ- τοῖς, εἰ μὴ βοηθήσετε, συνησθείητε. ναύτης ἂν ὑπό του παίηται, ναύτας ὁρῶν ἑτέρους δεῖται βοηθεῖν λέγων ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς εἴη τῶν πολλὰ δὴ πεπλευκότων. οἱ δὲ εὐθὺς θάλαττάν τε καὶ τὰ θαλάττης ἐννοοῦντες οἱ μὲν ἐξείλοντο τὸν ἀδικού- μενον καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοῖς ἀπέχρησεν, οἱ δὲ καὶ συνέκοψαν τὸν ἀσελγαίνοντα ἐπιπεσόντες. καὶ γεωργοὺς εἶδον ὅμοια ποι- οῦντας ἐφ’ ὁμοίοις καὶ σκυτέας δὴ καὶ χαλκοτύπους. οἱ δὲ δὴ στρατιῶται, Ἡράκλεις, πῦρ ἐπισχεῖν ῥᾷον ἢ τούτους ἐν τοιού- τοις. τὸ δὲ συνοργίζεσθαι πεῖθον ἓν πανταχοῦ, τὸ ἐν τοῖς αὐ- τοῖς βιοῦν. καὶ νῦν δὴ ζῆτε μὲν ὑμεῖς ἐν λόγοις, ζῇ δὲ Ἀκόντιος, καὶ προστάτης ὑμῶν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς Ἑρμῆς ὁ Δῖός. ἐπέθετο δὴ τῷ ῥήτορι μοχθηρὸν καὶ κεντρότυπον ἀνθρώπιον. τίς οὖν ἐμφράξει τούτῳ τὸ στόμα; τίς ἐκκόψει τὸ κέντρον; ἐπὶ τίνας χρὴ συμμάχους καταφεύγειν ὑμᾶς ἀφέντα τοὺς εἰ- κότως μὲν ἂν ἑλομένους ἀμύνειν, δύναμιν δὲ ἔχοντας τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Μουσῶν, ὑφ’ ὧν οὗπέρ ἐστε τέταχθε; καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἂν ἐπέστελλον, εἰ μὴ τόνδε μὲν ᾔδειν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι μελετῶντα, τὸν δὲ γενναῖον Ἐλπίδιον οὐ τοὺς ἐν αἰτίαις μισοῦντα πάν- τὰς, τῶν δὲ ἐν ταῖς αἰτίαις τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας. φανεῖται δὲ οὗτος ὑμῶν τὰ δίκαια ποιούντων οὐχ οἷον ὁ κατήγορος ἔφη- σεν. ἀλλ’ οἷον ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν.