Letter 128: Eudaemon the Egyptian, who lives among you but has sent his reputation everywhere, adorns Egypt no less than your city.
**To Eutokios** (359/60)
Eudaimon the Egyptian, who lives among you but has sent his reputation everywhere, adorns your city no less than Egypt. For his knowledge of the poets and his becoming a poet he owes to that land, but his knowledge of the rhetoricians and his becoming an orator he owes to you.
He, then, is bound to love the city that educated him, and it is only right that you in turn should assist in other matters the man to whom you gave the gift of eloquence. And I believe that in writing to you I am addressing the entire city — for it is you who sustain it by your benefactions, and the city neither fails to recognize this nor hesitates to acknowledge it with pleasure.
Let the city, then, through you, grant Eudaimon a favor. And what is this favor? The emperor honors our teacher with an imperial food allowance. Wishing to convert this into silver for him, we looked to you, reflecting that the sale requires the generosity of Eutokios.
Be true to yourself, then, and act with all speed so that our affairs may prosper — and expect from a man who knows how to speak praise in return for your money.
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