Letter 489: The courage required to speak truth to the powerful, Alexandros, is different from the courage required in battle —...

To Alexandros. On the same matter. The law bars Egyptians from holding office on account of their harshness, but the Cappadocians, who are worse than they, it does not bar. Since, then, we, having had a Cappadocian for our governor, have had abundant experience of the devil, while you [plural] have the emperor's mind disposed toward whatever you wish, unite these men too with the Egyptians [i.e., bar the Cappadocians from office as the Egyptians are barred], so that the Cappadocian may never govern any other land but his own alone -- so that, as is fitting, they may have their ancestral bitterness administered to them by one another.

Περὶ αὐτοῦ. Αἰγυπτίους μὲν δι᾽ ἀπήνειαν νόμος εἴργει ἀρχῆς, Καππαδόκας δὲ τοὺς χείρους ἐκείνων, οὐκ ἔτι. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἡμεῖς μὲν ἄρχοντι Καππαδόκῃ χρησάμενοι, πολλὴν πεῖραν τοῦ διαβόλου ἔσχήκαμεν, ὑμεῖς δὲ τὴν βασιλέως γνώμην πρὸς ἃ βούλεσθε ἔχετε, ἑνώσατε Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τούτους, μήποτε καὶ ἄλης ἄρξη χώρας Καππαδόκης, εἰ μὴ μόνης τῆς οἰκείας, ὡς πρέπει ὑπ’ ἀλλήλων αὐτοὺς τὴν πάτριον ποτίζεσθαι πικρίαν.