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I know your honor by hearsay, and I admire it as few do who have conversed with you for the longest time; so great among all is the report of your goodness. 208.2 For this reason I too have dared this embassy. The admirable Alypius has left us, the common protector of our friends and guardian of the orphans. This is no small misfortune for us. 208.3 A second matter was added, that his most respectable freedwoman also cares for the orphans. 208.4 Console her with your present benevolence, and grant safety to your own children through your good deeds to the orphans, and show that kinship has more to offer than strangers. 208.5 And there will be the additional favor to us, whom, in whatever you honor, you will have honored God, whose attendants and ministers we have been deemed worthy to be, even if we are less than worthy. 209.T TO CASTOR 209.1 How tyrannical and forceful you are! Only a letter of yours was seen, and we were overlooked. But behold, to you also comes the much-enduring Sacerdos, who is your brother, but my son and a sharer in my sufferings. 209.2 But so that we may not be utterly defeated, return to us most quickly the consolation of our life, who will both learn and teach philosophy. For to suffer together is the greatest thing for concord, and concord for counsel. 210.T TO THE SAME 210.1 For me, it seems, a foreign land is kinder than my fatherland; for the one allowed me to enjoy your friendship, but the other has granted us nothing of the sort. And this for me is because of my illness, which holds me fettered and makes me slow to move or immobile in many things, if one must speak more truly. 210.2 This loss, therefore, we shall bear, though grieving; for what grievous thing does a man not bear? Only may you be healthy and do what is according to your mind, and may your affairs be in the hand of God; and they will be, if you genuinely take hold of Him. 210.3 But be pleased to send back the lady, our common sister, as quickly as possible, as a common support both for the devout and for our weakness; or we shall cry out many things against your Sacerdotis, on whose account we are suffering loss, and we shall call her by her proper name. And you will know who that is, learning it from her.

211.T TO CYRIACUS 211.1 You honor the devout, I know well, and you do good to the poor.

Now is the time for you for both of these. For it is thus: our most honorable and most God-beloved son Sacerdos, the fellow presbyter, is in charge of a well-known and populous poorhouse, both on account of his piety and his zeal for the matter. 211.2 There are, among the properties serving the poorhouse, the estates of Liriandus and Caberina, bordering the places of the house, which, from a gift of the most honorable Castor, contribute something to the poorhouse. 211.3 By freeing these from all abuse, you will contribute no small part, both to the poor for their care, and to yourself for the recompense which you know is owed to the pious. 211.4 And it is clear that once you have set out upon this beneficence you will also make provision for future security, so that it will not be possible for anyone, even if he wishes, to do harm concerning these places, in whatever way your understanding might devise. 212.T TO SACERDOS 212.1 I greet you, our new hope, the grey-haired in youth; and I wish and pray for you whatever is most beautiful. 212.2 But you are not ignorant of the first of beautiful things: which is to always possess God and to become a possession of God through intimacy with and ascent to him; which I know that you both will and have admonished yourself. 213.T TO THE SAME 213.1 If you expected nothing difficult when you took up philosophy, the beginning was unphilosophical and I blame your shapers. 213.2 But if it was expected, if it did not happen, thanks be to God; but if it did happen, either endure in your suffering or know that you are being false to your promise. 214.T TO THE SAME 214.1 The untested is not approved; but that which has been tested in affairs is more approved, like gold in a furnace. 214.2 If you have philosophized sufficiently on this, thanks be to God, but if not yet completely, I set myself and my own affairs before you; we have been insulted, we have been hated, for what terrible things have we not suffered,

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Ἀκοῇ μὲν γινώσκω τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα, θαυμάζω δὲ ὅσον ὀλίγοι τῶν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ὡμιληκότων· τοσοῦτος παρὰ πᾶσι τῆς σῆς καλοκἀγαθίας ὁ λόγος. 208.2 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ταύτην ἐθάρρησα τὴν πρεσβείαν. Ἀπέλιπεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θαυμαστὸς Ἀλύπιος, ὁ κοινὸς τῶν φίλων προστάτης καὶ τῶν ὀρφανῶν κηδεμών. Οὐ μικρὸν τοῦτο ἡμῖν εἰς συμφοράν. 208.3 ∆εύτερον προσεγένετο τὸ καὶ τὴν κοσμιω τάτην ἐλευθέραν αὐτοῦ φροντίζειν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὀρφανῶν. 208.4 Ταύτην παραμύθησαι τῇ νῦν φιλανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τοῖς σοῖς τέκνοις χάρισαι διὰ τῆς εἰς τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς εὐποιΐας, καὶ δεῖξον πλέον ἔχουσαν τῶν ξένων τὴν οἰκειότητα. 208.5 Πρόσεσται δὲ καὶ τὸ ἡμῖν χαρίσασθαι, οὓς ὅ τι ἂν τιμήσῃς, Θεὸν ἔσῃ τετιμηκώς, οὗπερ ἡμεῖς ἠξιώμεθα εἶναι παραστάται καὶ λειτουργοί, καὶ εἰ τῆς ἀξίας ἐλάττονες. 209.Τ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙ 209.1 Ὡς τυραννικὸς εἶ καὶ βίαιος· γράμμα σὸν ὤφθη μόνον, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑπερώφθημεν. Ἀλλ' ἰδού σοι καὶ ὁ πολύτλας Σακερδώς, ὁ σὸς μὲν ἀδελφός, υἱὸς δὲ ἐμὸς καὶ τῶν παθῶν κοινωνός. 209.2 Ἵνα δὲ μὴ παντελῶς ἡττηθῶμεν, τάχιστα ἡμῖν ἀπόδος, τὴν τοῦ βίου παρα μυθίαν, φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ διδαχθησόμενον καὶ διδάξοντα. Μέγιστον γὰρ εἰς μὲν ὁμόνοιαν τὸ συμπάσχειν, εἰς δὲ συμβουλὴν ἡ ὁμόνοια. 210.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 210.1 Ἐμοὶ τῆς πατρίδος, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ ἀλλοδαπὴ χρησ τοτέρα· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐδίδου τῆς σῆς ἀπολαύειν φιλίας, ἡ δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσατο. Καὶ τοῦτό μοι παρὰ τῆς ἀρρωστίας, ἥ με κατέχει πεδήσασα καὶ πρὸς πολλὰ ποιεῖ δυσκίνητον ἢ ἀκίνητον, εἰ χρὴ λέγειν τὸ ἀληθέστερον. 210.2 Ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν ζημίαν λυπούμενοι μὲν οἴσομεν· τί δὲ οὐ φέρει τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἅνθρωπος; Μόνον ὑγιαίνοις καὶ πράττοις τὰ κατὰ νοῦν, καὶ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ εἴη τὰ σά· ἔσται δέ, εἰ γνησίως αὐτοῦ λαμβάνοιο. 210.3 Τὴν δὲ κυρίαν, τὴν κοινὴν ἡμῶν ἀδελφὴν τάχιστα ἀποπέμψασθαι θέλησον, ὡς κοινὸν ἔρεισμα καὶ τῶν εὐλαβῶν καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς ἡμετέρας· ἢ πολλά σου τῆς Σακερδώτιδος καταβοη σόμεθα, δι' ἣν ζημιούμεθα, καὶ καλέσομεν αὐτὴν τῇ οἰκείᾳ προσηγορίᾳ. Γνώσῃ δὲ ἥ τις, παρ' αὐτῆς πυθόμενος.

211.Τ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΩΙ 211.1 Τιμᾷς τοὺς εὐλαβεῖς, εὖ οἶδα, καὶ πτωχοὺς εὖ ποιεῖς.

Τούτων ἀμφοτέρων σοι νῦν καιρός. Ἔχει γὰρ οὕτως· ὁ τιμιώτατος καὶ θεοφιλέστατος υἱὸς ἡμῶν Σακερ δώς, ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος, πτωχείου προέστηκε τῶν ἐπισήμων πολυανθρώπου, εὐσεβείας τε ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸ πρᾶγμα σπουδῆς. 211.2 Ἔστι δὲ τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων τῷ πτωχείῳ κτήματα Λιριάνδος καὶ Καβερίνα ὁμοροῦντα τόποις τοῖς τῆς οἰκίας, ἐξ ἐπιδόσεως τοῦ τιμιωτάτου Κάστορος, τῷ πτωχείῳ τι συνεισφέροντα. 211.3 Ταῦτα πάσης ἐπηρείας ἐλευθερώσας, μέρος οὐκ ἐλάχιστον συνεισοίσεις, καὶ τοῖς πτωχοῖς τῆς θεραπείας, καὶ σεαυτῷ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως ἣν οἶδας ὀφειλομένην τοῖς εὐσεβέσι. 211.4 ∆ῆλον δὲ ὅτι ἅπαξ ὁρμήσας εἰς τὴν εὐεργεσίαν καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸ μέλλον ἀσφαλείας ποιήσῃ πρόνοιαν, ὡς μηδὲ βουλομένῳ τινὶ ἐξεῖναι κακὸν γενέσθαι περὶ τοὺς τόπους, τρόπον ὃν ἂν ἐπινοήσειεν ἡ σὴ σύνεσις. 212.Τ ΣΑΚΕΡ∆ΩΤΙ 212.1 Προσαγορεύω σε τὴν νέαν ἡμῶν ἐλπίδα, τὸν πολιὸν ἐν νεότητι· καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι σοι κάλλιστον βούλομαί τε καὶ εὔχομαι. 212.2 Τῶν δὲ καλῶν τὸ πρῶτον οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς· ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀεὶ Θεὸν κτᾶσθαι καὶ γίνεσθαι κτῆμα Θεοῦ διὰ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν οἰκειώσεώς τε καὶ ἀναβάσεως· ὃ καὶ σεαυτὸν οἶδ' ὅτι νουθετήσεις τε καὶ νενουθέτηκας. 213.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 213.1 Εἴ σοι μηδὲν ἠλπίζετο δυσχερές, ἡνίκα φιλοσοφίᾳ προσέβαινες, ἀφιλόσοφος ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τοὺς πλάστας μέμφομαι. 213.2 Εἰ δὲ ἠλπίζετο, εἰ μὲν οὐκ ἀπήντησε, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις· εἰ δὲ ἀπήντησεν, ἢ καρτέρει πάσχων ἢ ἴσθι ψευδόμενος τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. 214.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 214.1 Οὐ δόκιμον τὸ ἀπείραστον· τὸ δὲ βασανισθὲν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι δοκιμώτερον, ὡς ἐν καμίνῳ χρυσός. 214.2 Εἰ μὲν ἱκανῶς σοι τοῦτο πεφιλοσόφηται, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις, εἰ δὲ οὔπω τελείως, ἐμαυτὸν προτίθημί σοι καὶ τὰ ἐμά· ὑβρίσμεθα, μεμισήμεθα, τί γὰρ οὐ πεπόνθαμεν τῶν δεινῶν,