Letter CCCIII.

To the Comes Privatarum.

You have, I think, been led to impose a contribution of mares1525    φοράδων τέλεσυα.  “Recte Scultetum castigat Combefisius quod raptim vectigal reddiderit.  At idem immerito putat ob equarum possessionem tributum aliquod ejusmodi hominibus impositum fuisse.  Perspicuum est equas ipsas iis, quibus patrocinatur Basilius, imperatas fuisse, idque in multæ magis quam in tributi loco; si quidem eos comes rei privatæ falsis criminationibus deceptus damnaverat.  Sic etiam Greg. Naz., Ep. clxxxiv.  Nemesium flectere conatur qui Valentiniano equarum multam ob aliquod delictum inflexerat.  Nec mirum est in Cappadocia, quæ optimos equos alebat, ejusmodi multas impossitas fuisse.”  Ben. note. on these people by false information on the part of the inhabitants.  What is going on is quite unfair.  It cannot but be displeasing to your excellency, and is distressing to me on account of my intimate connexion with the victims of the wrong.  I have therefore lost no time in begging your Lordship not to allow these promoters of iniquity to succeed in their malevolence.

ΚΟΜΗΤΙ ΠΡΙΒΑΤΩΝ

[1] Οἱ τοῦ χωρίου τοῦδε ἐκ διαβολῆς, οἶμαι, ψευδοῦς ἔπεισαν τὴν τιμιότητά σου φοράδων τέλεσμα τοῖσδε ἐπαγαγεῖν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ τὸ γινόμενον ἄδικον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπαρέσκειν ὀφεῖλον τῇ τιμιότητί σου καὶ ἡμῖν λυπηρὸν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἠδικημένους ἡμῖν ὑπάρχουσαν οἰκειότητα, ἐσπεύσαμεν παρακαλέσαι τὴν χρηστότητά σου μὴ ἐᾶσαι προβῆναι τοῖς ἀδικεῖν ἐπιχειροῦσι τὴν ἐπήρειαν.