Letter 129: "A friend should stand by a man," as the saying goes.

"A friend should stand by a man," as the saying goes. And you are both our friend and the most reliable of friends, so you won't hold back any effort in matters that could improve our situation. Receive Mocimus kindly and turn our chaff into gold for us. If the thing is easy, do it precisely because it's easy. If it's difficult, do it because you know how to work hard.

To Eustolius. (359/60) "Let a friend be at a man's side," as the saying goes. And you are to me both a friend and the truest of friends, so that you will spare no effort in anything where you can improve my affairs. Receive Mocimus kindly on my behalf, then, and turn my chaff into gold. If the matter is perfectly easy, do it for that very reason — because it is easy. But if it is difficult, do it because you are a man who knows how to take pains.

Εὐστολίῳ. (359/60) Φίλος ἀνδρὶ παρείη, φασί. σὺ δ' ἡμῖν καὶ φίλος καὶ σαφέστατος τῶν φίλων, ὥστ’ οὐδὲν παρήσεις προθυμίας ἐν οἷς τι θήσῃ τῶν ἡμετέρων βέλτιον. δέξαι δὴ τὸν Μόκιμον ἡμῖν εὐμενῶς καὶ ποίησον ἡμῖν τὰ ἄχυρα χρυσίον, εἰ μὲν τὸ 10 πρᾶγμα ῥᾷστον, δι’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅτι ῥᾷστον, εἰ δὲ ἐργῶδες, ὅτι καὶ πονεῖν οἶσθα.