Letter 112: Among the soldiers there is a brother of this Hesychius, and Hesychius himself has become a friend of ours for no...

LibaniusSpectatus|c. 324 AD|Libanius
women

**To the same correspondent.** (359/60)

There is among the soldiers a brother of Hesychius, and this Hesychius here is a man whom no small number of things have made a friend to us. For that reason, he has the standing both to ask a favor and to receive one. And he enters your mother's house no less boldly than you yourself would.

Once, I was sitting beside her in conversation when he came in requesting that a letter go from her to you on behalf of his brother. But she said that she had not yet written to you since the calamities, nor was she yet able to bring herself to do so. At this he grew disheartened, but she, wishing to remedy his distress, bade me write to you explaining why she herself had not written, believing that your learning the reason for her silence would carry the same weight as a letter from her.

Do, then, be eager to help the man — for you certainly have the power, if you have the will.

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