Letter 924: Libanius asks Sophronius to support Thalassius' admission to the council and to calm or expose his opponents.

I ask a favor from you for no reason except that I have never stopped loving you. You can do both things: love and do good. I can only do the first; but because I do it, I may reasonably enjoy the benefit of your power. Here is what I would like done for me. Thalassius is the son of a just father and has inherited his character. For that reason he is respected in our city. By his own labor he improves my work: he guards the speeches I compose and removes no small number of the troubles that come with my illnesses. Such a man has wished to join the great council, not so that he may be burdensome to others, but so that no one may be burdensome to him, and so that those who want to bring him down may have no power, since your favor would stand as a wall around him. Recently, when someone in the council mentioned the matter, the men who were hurting my beloved Thalassius came forward with accusations from which he is very far removed. If any of them were true, I would not be so shameless as to keep him in the place he holds with me, much less send letters like this on his behalf. So grant me this, my noble friend, and add it to your many kindnesses to me. Ask whether the men who blocked him then are still the same men now. We hear there has been some change. If they have changed, praise them; if they are still angry, stop them with that voice of yours, which has often charmed such storms into calm.