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may be glorified and the peoples rejoice and the martyrs be honored and we elders may obtain the care owed to us by a genuine son, deign to travel to us without delay and to arrive before the days of the synod, so that we may meet one another at leisure and be mutually comforted through the fellowship of spiritual gifts. The day is the fifth of September. Therefore we ask you to arrive three days beforehand, so that by your presence you may also make the commemoration of the poor-house great. May you be kept safe for me and for the Church of God, strong and cheerful in the Lord, praying for me, by the grace of the Lord.

177. To Sophronius the Magister

177.1 To enumerate all those who through us have been benefited by your magnanimity is not easy, so many do we know ourselves to have benefited through your great hand which the Lord has granted us as an ally on the most important occasions. And the most just of all happens to be the one now introduced through our letter, our most reverend brother Eusebius, having fallen victim to an irrational calumny, which it is for your righteousness alone to dispel. Therefore we ask you, favoring what is just and looking to what is humane and granting us your accustomed favors, to become everything to the man and to stand by him with the truth. For he has no small alliance from what is just; which, unless the present time should damage it, will very easily be demonstrated clearly and irrefutably.

178. To Aburgius

178.1 I know that I have often introduced many men to your honorableness and have become sufficiently useful on the most important occasions to those who are in distress. Yet I know that I have never before sent to your decency anyone more dear to me or struggling for greater stakes, than my most beloved son Eusebius, who now delivers this letter to you from us. With what sort of business he himself is entangled, should he find any opportunity, he will relate to your gravity. But the things which it is fitting to be said by us are these: that the man not be carried away nor, because many have appeared who were convicted of the most grievous deeds, should he himself suffer anything of the common suspicion, but that he should obtain a court of justice and his life be brought to examination. For thus most easily will both the calumny become manifest and the man, having obtained the most just protection, will be a perpetual herald of the benefits rendered to him by your clemency.

179. To Arinthaeus

179.1 Both that you are a friend to the free and a friend to man, both the nobility of your nature and your fellowship towards all sufficiently teaches us. Therefore we confidently act as ambassadors on behalf of a man illustrious indeed from his ancestors, but worthy of more honor and reverence on his own account because of the gentleness of character inherent in him; so that you, being besought by us, may stand by him as he contests a case contemptible on account of the truth, but otherwise perilous because of the weight of the calumny. For a great impulse towards his salvation would occur, if you should deign to utter some philanthropic word on his behalf, primarily favoring what is just, and then also granting to us, your special friends, your accustomed honor and favor in this matter as well.

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δοξασθῇ καὶ λαοὶ εὐφρανθῶσι καὶ τιμηθῶσι μάρτυρες καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ γέροντες τῆς ὀφειλο μένης ἡμῖν παρὰ τέκνου γνησίου τύχωμεν θεραπείας, καταξίωσον ἀόκνως μέχρις ἡμῶν διαβῆναι καὶ προλαβεῖν τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς συνόδου, ὥστε ἐπὶ σχολῆς ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις συγγενέσθαι καὶ συμπαρακληθῆναι διὰ τῆς κοινωνίας τῶν πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων. Ἔστι δὲ ἡ ἡμέρα τῇ πέμπτῃ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου. ∆ιὸ παρακαλοῦμεν πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπιστῆναι, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ πτωχοτροφείου τὴν μνήμην μεγάλην ποιήσῃς τῇ παρουσίᾳ. Ἐρρωμένος καὶ εὔθυμος ἐν Κυρίῳ ὑπερευχόμενός μου διαφυλαχθείης μοι καὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ χάριτι τοῦ Κυρίου.

177.τ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡΩ

177.1 Καταλέγειν μὲν πάντας τοὺς δι' ἡμῶν εὐεργετηθέντας παρὰ τῆς σῆς

μεγαλονοίας οὐ ῥᾴδιον, οὕτω πολλοὺς σύνισμεν ἑαυτοῖς εὐπεποιηκόσι διὰ τῆς μεγάλης σου χειρὸς ἣν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῖν σύμμαχον ἐπὶ τῶν μεγίστων καιρῶν ἐχαρίσατο. ∆ικαιότατος δὲ πάντων καὶ ὁ νῦν προσαγόμενος διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἡμῶν τυγχάνει, ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Εὐσέβιος, παραλόγῳ συκοφαντίᾳ περιπεσών, ἣν ἀποσκεδάσαι μόνης ἐστὶ τῆς σῆς ὀρθότητος. ∆ιὸ παρακα λοῦμεν καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ χαριζόμενον καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀφορῶντα καὶ ἡμῖν τὰς συνήθεις παρεχόμενον χάριτας ἀντὶ πάντων γενέσθαι τῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ προστῆναι αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἔχει γὰρ οὐ μικρὰν συμμαχίαν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ δικαίου· ἥν, εἰ μὴ ὁ παρὼν καιρὸς καταβλάψειε, πάνυ ῥᾴδιον σαφῶς καὶ ἀναντιρρήτως ἐπιδειχθήσεται.

178.τ ΑΒΟΥΡΓΙΩ

178.1 Πολλοὺς οἶδα πολλάκις συστήσας τῇ τιμιότητί σου καὶ γενόμενος ἐπὶ

μεγίστων καιρῶν χρήσιμος ἱκανῶς τοῖς καταπονουμένοις. Οὐ μὴν τιμιώτερόν γε ἐμοὶ οὐδ' ὑπὲρ μειζόνων ἀγωνιζόμενον οἶδα πρότερον παραπέμψας τῇ κοσμιότητί σου, τοῦ ποθεινοτάτου υἱοῦ Εὐσεβίου, τοῦ νῦν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ταύτην ἐγχειρίζοντός σοι παρ' ἡμῶν. Ὃς ποταπῷ μὲν συμπέπλεκται πράγματι αὐτός, ἂν τύχοι τινὸς καιροῦ, διηγήσεταί σου τῇ σεμνότητι. Ἃ δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν λεχθῆναι προσῆκε ταῦτά ἐστι· μὴ παρασυρῆναι τὸν ἄνδρα μηδέ, τῷ πολλοὺς πεφηνέναι τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς χαλεπωτάταις πράξεσιν ἑαλωκότας, καὶ αὐτόν τι τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ὑπο νοίας παραπολαῦσαι, ἀλλὰ τυχεῖν δικαστηρίου καὶ εἰς ἐξέτασιν αὐτοῦ τὸν βίον ἀχθῆναι. Ῥᾷστα γὰρ οὕτω καὶ ἡ συκοφαντία φανερὰ γενήσεται καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τυχὼν τῆς δικαιοτάτης προστασίας κήρυξ ἔσται διηνεκὴς τῶν ὑπηργμέ νων αὐτῷ παρὰ τῆς σῆς ἡμερότητος.

179.τ ΑΡΙΝΘΑΙΩ

179.1 Καὶ φιλελεύθερόν σε εἶναι καὶ φιλάνθρωπον τό τε τῆς φύσεως εὐγενὲς

καὶ τὸ πρὸς πάντας κοινωνικὸν ἱκανῶς ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδάσκει. ∆ιὸ θαρρούντως πρεσβεύομεν ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς λαμπροῦ μὲν ἄνωθεν ἐκ προγόνων, πλείονος δὲ δι' ἑαυτὸν τιμῆς καὶ αἰδοῦς ἀξίου διὰ τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ τῶν τρόπων ἡμερότητα· ὥστε σε παρακληθέντα ὑφ' ἡμῶν πα ραστῆναι αὐτῷ ἀγωνιζομένῳ δίκην τῆς μὲν ἀληθείας ἕνεκεν εὐκαταφρόνητον, ἐναγώνιον δὲ ἄλλως διὰ τὸ τῆς συκοφαντίας βαρύ. Μεγάλη γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο ῥοπὴ αὐτῷ πρὸς σωτηρίαν, εἰ καταξιώσειάς τι ῥῆμα φιλάνθρωπον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ προέσθαι προηγουμένως μὲν τῷ δικαίῳ χαριζό μενος, ἔπειτα καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐξαιρέτοις σου τὴν συνήθη τιμὴν καὶ χάριν καὶ ἐν τούτῳ χαριζόμενος.