Letter 140: To the same person. (359/60)

**To the same correspondent.** (359/60) I take an interest in the children of Hestiaeus both on account of their uncles, who were fellow students of mine, and on account of their grandfather, who counted me as one of his own sons. Hestiaeus himself was not personally known to me, but he is spoken of with praise. Most importantly, the young men are students of mine who, along with their lessons in rhetoric, have learned to conduct themselves with propriety. Through what great waves of trouble their mother passed before she barely drew breath again, you know — and you know too that, though she escaped the danger, she made the poverty that already existed even worse. Now there is a certain man in Cyrrhus named Mares, more poor than he is old — and he is very old indeed. That he not be utterly ruined is what these young men ask, what I desire, and what lies in your power to grant. A pretext for the assistance will be furnished by an old imperial rescript, confirmed by letters of Theophilus.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (359/60) Τῶν Ἑστιαίου παίδων μέλει μοι καὶ διὰ τοὺς θείους αὐτῶν, οἳ συνεφοίτησάν μοι, καὶ διὰ τὸν πάππον, ὃς ἔνα με ἡγεῖτο τῶν υἱέων. Ἑστιαῖος δὲ ἐμοὶ μὲν συνήθης οὐκ ἦν, ἐπαινεῖται δέ. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τῶν ἐμῶν οἱ νεανίσκοι φοιτη- τῶν μετὰ τῶν λόγων μελετήσαντες αἰδεῖσθαι. δι’ ὅσων δὲ κυμάτων ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῖς ἐλθοῦσα μόλις ἀνέπνευσεν, οἶσθα καὶ ὅτι τοῦ κινδύνου μὲν ἀπηλλάγη, μείζω δὲ πεποίηκε τὴν οὖσαν καὶ πρὶν πενίαν. ἔστι δέ τις ἄνθρωπος ἐν Κύρῳ Μάρης, μᾶλλον πένης ἢ γέρων, ἔστι δὲ καὶ μάλα γέρων. ὃν μὴ παντάπασιν ἐκτριβῆναι δέονται μὲν οὗτοι, βούλομαι δὲ ἐγώ, κύριος δὲ σύ. σχῆμα δὲ τῇ βοηθείᾳ δώσει βασιλέως πα- λαιὰ γράμματα γράμμασι Θεοφίλου βεβαιούμενα.