Letter 421: Do you realize that it speaks well of you that men of letters like me dare to write to a man of arms like you?

[. . . . . .] Are you aware that this too earns you much good repute, that we who are engaged in letters write to you, confident in your skill at arms? For I consider this a sign that you are harsh toward your enemies but gentle toward your own people, that very thing celebrated of old, namely that the man who pursues the things you pursue must be good in both these respects and those. For the other generals we behold from afar, and if they look toward us, we flee; but to you we approach more gladly than to our own parents, and if you go away, we grieve. The cause is that you have been educated in the arts of the Muses along with those of tactics, the latter of which provides victory in wars, while the former provides victory there as well and makes you gentle toward those against whom you wage war. It would therefore be in keeping with your character to stretch out your hand also to this Dionysius, who was orphaned when brigands killed his father, and who, fleeing on account of the misfortune, lost much at home when his property was plundered, and who applied himself to letters, and that too amid his straitened circumstances. Now is the moment for him to recover something of his patrimony, since you are master of affairs. Therefore, pitying the young man's ill fortune and admiring his aspiration, dissolve his poverty by your aid.

. . . . . . (355) Ἆρ’ οἶσθα ὅτι καὶ τοῦτό σοι πολλὴν εὐφημίαν ἔχει τοὺς ἐν λόγοις ἡμᾶς τῷ περὶ τὰ ὅπλα σοὶ θαρρεῖν ἐπιστέλλειν; ση- μεῖον γὰρ οἶμαι τοῦτο τοῦ χαλεπὸν μὲν τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἥμερον δὲ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους εἶναι, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ πάλαι ὑμνούμενον, ὅτι χρὴ τὸν ἅπερ σὺ μέτει, καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ἀγαθὸν εἶναι. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλους στρατηγοὺς πόρρωθέν τε ὁρῶμεν κἂν εἰς ἡμᾶς βλέψωσι, φεύγομεν· σοὶ δὲ ἥδιον ἢ τοῖς γονεῦσι πρόσιμεν κἂν ἀπίης, ἀλγοῦμεν. αἴτιον δὲ ὅτι πεπαίδευσαι μετὰ τῶν τακτικῶν τὰ Μουσῶν, ὧν τὸ μὲν νικᾶν ἐν πολέμοις παρέ- χει, τὸ δὲ νιλᾶν τε ἐκεῖ καὶ πρᾷον εἶναι τούτοις ὑπὲρ ὧν πολεμεῖς. εἴη ἂν οὖν ἐν τρόπῳ σοι καὶ τὸ Διονυσίῳ τούτῳ χεῖρα ὀρέξαι, ὃς ὀρφανὸς μὲν ἐγένετο λῃστῶν αὐτῷ τὸν πατέρα ἀποκτεινάντων, διὰ δὲ τὴν συμφορὰν φυγὼν πολλὰ μὶν ἀπώ- λεσεν οἴκοι διαρπασθείσης αὐτῷ τῆς οὐσίας, λόγοις δὲ ἐπέθετο καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἀπορίᾳ. καφὸς δὲ αὐτῷ νῦν κομίσασθαί τι τῶν πατρῴων, ἐπειδὴ σὺ τῶν πραγμάτων κύριος. τήν τε οὖν δυστυχίαν ἐλεήσας τοῦ νέου καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν θαυμάσας λῦσον αὐτῷ τὴν πενίαν τῇ βοηθείᾳ.