Letter XXXV.282    Placed before 370.

Without address.

I have written to you about many people as belonging to myself; now I mean to write about more.  The poor can never fail, and I can never say, no.  There is no one more intimately associated with me, nor better able to do me kindnesses wherever he has the ability, than the reverend brother Leontius.  So treat his house as if you had found me, not in that poverty in which now by God’s help I am living, but endowed with wealth and landed property.  There is no doubt that you would not have made me poor, but would have taken care of what I had, or even added to my possessions.  This is the way I ask you to behave in the house of Leontius.  You will get your accustomed reward from me; my prayers to the holy God for the trouble you are taking in shewing yourself a good man and true, and in anticipating the supplication of the needy.

ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ, ΥΠΕΡ ΛΕΟΝΤΙΟΥ

[1] Περὶ πολλῶν μὲν ὡς διαφερόντων μοι ἐπέστειλά σοι, περὶ πλειόνων δὲ καὶ ἐπιστελῶ. Οὔτε γὰρ τοὺς δεομένους ἐπιλιπεῖν δυνατόν, οὔτε ἡμᾶς ἀρνεῖσθαι τὴν χάριν οἷόν τε. Οὐ μήν ἐστί τις οἰκειότερός μοι, οὔτε μᾶλλον ἀναπαῦσαί με ἐφ' οἷς ἂν εὖ τι πάθοι δυνάμενος, τοῦ αἰδεσιμωτάτου ἀδελφοῦ Λεοντίου: οὗ τὴν οἰκίαν οὕτω διάθες ὡς ἂν εἰ αὐτὸν ἐμὲ καταλάβοις, μὴ ἐν τῇ πενίᾳ ταύτῃ ἐν ᾗ νῦν εἰμι σὺν Θεῷ, ἀλλ' εὐπορίας τινὸς ἐπειλημμένον καὶ ἀγροὺς κεκτημένον. Δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἐποίησάς με πένητα, ἀλλ' ἐφύλαξας ἂν τὰ παρόντα ἢ ἐπέτεινας τὴν εὐπορίαν. Τοῦτο οὖν ποιῆσαί σε καὶ ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ μοι οἰκίᾳ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παρακαλοῦμεν. Μισθὸς δέ σοι ὑπὲρ πάντων ὁ συνήθης παρ' ἐμοῦ, εὐχὴ πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον Θεὸν ὑπὲρ ὧν κάμνεις, καλός τε καὶ ἀγαθὸς ὢν καὶ προλαμβάνων τὰς αἰτήσεις τῶν δεομένων.