Letter 820: I have assisted, as far as I could, the affairs of all who shared in my teaching.

To Gaianus. (363) For all those who have shared in my school's instruction I have helped set right, so far as I was able, whatever affairs they had; and Herculianus, the son of Hermogenes, I esteemed so excellent that for him, when he married, I even composed a wedding song, though I have always, on every occasion, shunned the singing of such pieces. How then was I likely to push away such a man when he asks me to help him, and that too in matters of the very kind which you have the authority to settle? This son of Hermogenes says, then, that he is being wronged by the city of the Tyrians, who are taking from him a house which his father left to him, having received it as a prize for his dangers, since it belonged to the emperor and not to Tyre. Now the emperor, as we know, commands that the cities recover what is their own, but that what has been given to that man remain his. And he says that the Tyrians are not ignorant of these things, but have set upon him while he is the victim of slander, trusting not in what is just, but in the opportune moment. But I, for my part, would not think it right that one city should profit in this way at another's expense, for it is neither honorable nor safe. And further, since you deal justly with them, how is it not absurd that they should not now, if ever, themselves also practice justice and imitate the man set over them? But if they regard these things as idle talk, and think it a terrible thing should they not, from the young man's troubles, reap the fruits of their greed, let them cease their use of force; for in this case too the fearsome matters have been put to an end by judgment and by the vote.

Γαϊανῷ. (363) Ἅπασι μὲν τοῖς τῶν ἐμῶν μετεσχηκόσι διατριβῶν ὅσα οἷός τε ἦν συνεπηνώρθωσα τῶν πραγμάτων· Ἑρκουλιανὸν δὲ τὸν Ἑρμογένους οὕτω δὴ βέλτιστον ἡγησάμην, ὥστε αὐτῷ καὶ ᾆσμα ἐποίησα γαμοῦντι φυγὼν ἀεὶ δήποτε τὸ τὰ τοιαῦτα ᾄδειν. πῶς οὖν ἔμελλον τὸν τοιοῦτον ἀπώσεσθαι δεόμενον βοηθεῖν αὑτῶ, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τούτοις, ἃ σὺ κύριος θεῖναι καλῶ, λέγει τοίνυν οὗτος ὁ Ἑρμογένους ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν Τυρίων ἀδικεῖσθαι πόλεως οἰκίαν αὐτὸν ἀφαιρουμένων, ἣν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῷ κατέλιπεν ἆθλον τῶν κινδύνων λαβὼν βασιλέως οὖ- σαν, οὐ Τυροῦ. κελεύει δέ, ὡς ἴσμεν, ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰς μὲν πόλεις τὰ αὑτῶν κομίζεσθαι, τὰ δ’ ἐκείνῳ δοθέντα μένειν. ταῦτα δέ φησιν οὐκ ἀγνοεῖν μὲν τοὺς Τυρίους, ἐπιθέσθαι δὲ αὑτῷ συκοφαντουμένῳ πιστεύοντας οὐ τοῖς δικαίοις, ἀλλὰ τῷ καιρῷ. ἐγὼ δὲ πόλιν πόλιν οὕτω οὐκ ἂν ἀξιοίην κερδαίνειν κακῶς, οὔτε γὰρ καλὸν οὔτ’ ἀσφα- λές. ἔτι δὲ σοῦ δικαίως πρὸς αὐτοὺς προσφερομένου πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον μὴ νῦν, εἴπερ ποτέ, καὶ αὐτοὺς δικαιοσύνην ἀσκεῖν καὶ τὸν ἐφεστηκότα μιμεῖσθαι; εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν ὕθλον ἡγοῦνται, δεινὸν δέ, εἰ μὴ τῆς τοῦ νεανίσκου ταραχῆς εἰς πλεονεξίαν ἀπολαύσουσι, παυσάσθων βιαζόμενοι· καὶ γὰρ τού· τῳ πέπαυται τὰ φοβερὰ κρίσει καὶ ψήφῳ.