Letter 4017: I owe it to men of proven worth to recommend them to you, since admission to your circle of friends is a supreme gift.

I am bound to commend to you men of proven worth, since it is a foremost duty that they should be enrolled among your friendships. Receive them, therefore, I beg you, men readily of the highest rank by birth and character, and at the very first meeting deem them worthy of an intimate familiarity. The community of the provincials of Campania has entrusted to them a delegation, which they must plead. They have a case of justice; my care commends their persons. You perceive that there are two reasons for exercising kindness toward them, on whose behalf publicly the fairness of their petition, privately not an ingratiating advocate, intervenes. XXXXVII. PVF to Q. S. [Publius ... to Quintus ...] I saw at Rome our son Protadius, to whose recommendation nothing was lacking from the ornaments of your family except your letters. When I had desired these, he answered that a journey into Hither Gaul had been imposed upon him by his father-in-law while you were conducting business far off. I did not gladly accept the young man's excuse; the rest of his conduct I approved. This is enough for the ears of a father, to whom I do not wish the testimony of a brief acquaintance to seem ingratiating toward me. At the same time I fear that I may detract something from your love for your son, who ought not to be aided in your eyes by the support of someone else's recommendation. XXXXVIII. PVM to Q. S. [Publius ... to Quintus ...] To some we grant letters out of courtesy; but these we have conferred, with a just affection, upon my lord and brother Bassus, who protects the fortunes of his sister. His petition does not differ from fairness; rather it is fortified by law and by the aids of justice. For he asks that a rebellious slave of his be brought before him, to whose tracking down neither the authority of the imperial command ["heavenly precept"] nor the vigor of the Count of Africa was able to attain; since the slave, conscious of his bold deed, avoided the impending penalty by the escape of his hiding-places. Since, therefore, the praiseworthy Count of Africa is said to have given you a public dispatch concerning that man's deed and wickedness, it will be a mark of your justice and kindness to invoke the divine [imperial] judgment in favor of this most distinguished man, lest an innocent household be any longer terrified by the deadly contrivances of a worthless slave. XXXXVIIII a. [400? ...]

Spectatae frugis viros apud te debeo commendare , quia praecipunm munns est, nt tuis amicitiis inserantur. suscipe igitur, quaeso te, ortu et moribus facile summa- tes eosqne in primore congressu penetrali familiaritate dignare. legationem illis 5 Campanonmi provincialium commune mandavit habent oranda. iustitia negotium, personas mea cnra commendat. advertis duas esse causas exercendae in eos benignitatis, pro qnibus publice aequitas petitionura, privatim non gratiosus lauda- tor iutervenit, • xxxxvn. 10 PVF AD Q. S. Vidi Romae Protadium filium nostmm, cuins commendationi nihil ex familiae vestrae ornamentis praeter litteras tuas defuit. quas cum desiderassem , de citeriore Gallia imperatum sibi a socero iter te procul agente respondit. excusationem iuvenis non libenter accepi; cetera morum probavi. satis est hoc auribus patris, cui nolo in 15 me gratiosnm videri testimonium brevis experimenti. simul vereor, ne qnid amori tuo in filium derogem, quem non decet iuvari apud te per suffragium conciliationis alienae. xxxxvin. PVM AD Q. S. 20 Litteras nonnnllis hnmanitate praestamus; has autem domino et fratri meo Basso, qui sororis fortunas tuetur, iusto amore detulimns. petitio ab aeqnitate non discrepat, quin potius iure atqne iustitiae mnnitur auxiliis. nam rebellem servum sibi poscit adduci, ad cuius investigationem nec praecepti caelestis auctoritas nec Africani comitis vigor potnit pervenire; siquidem facti audacis conscius inminentem poenam 25 latebramm vitavit effugio. cum igitur super eius facto atque nequitia ad te vir lauda- bilis Africae comes scriptum publicum dedisse dicatur, erit iustitiae et benignitatis tuae in favorem clarissimi viri divinnm provocare iudicium, ne ulterius innocens domus commentis feralibus vilis mancipii terreatur. XXXXVffll a. 400? s«