Letter 643: To Παλλαδίῳ. (361)

To Παλλαδίῳ. (361) Just as I would have been ashamed to write to you — a man who lives for justice — on behalf of someone in the wrong, so now, about to speak for someone with a just cause, I thought it shameful to hesitate. Acacius seems to consider me one of the easily ignored, and treats me accordingly. He took a quantity of timber into his keeping, and has been master of what was entrusted to him for four years now, always promising to give it back, never once without lying. He wrongs me in two ways: first by withholding what is mine, then by forcing me to take the matter to the courts. Step in, if you will, before this becomes a lawsuit. You know how to distinguish the just claim from the unjust — and this one is plain enough.

Παλλαδίῳ. (361) Ὥσπερ ὑπὲρ ἀδίκου τινὸς ᾐσχυνόμην ἂν ἐπιστεῖλαι πρὸς σὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίων ζῶντα, οὕτω νῦν δικαίου μεμνῆσθαι μέλλων αἰσχρὸν ἡγούμην ὀκνῆσαι. Ἀκάκιος ἴνα με νομίζει τῶν εὐκαταφρονήτων καὶ τῷ πρὸς ἄλλους καὶ πρὸς ἐμὲ προσ- φέρεται τρόπῳ. ξύλα γοῦν λαβὼν φυλάττειν τῆς παρακατα- θήκης αὑτὸν ποιεῖ δεσπότην ἔτος τουτὶ τέταρτον ἀεὶ μὲν ὑπισχνούμενος ἀποδώσειν, οὐκ ἔστι δὲ ὅτε οὐ ψευσάμενος. ἐμὲ δὲ δύ’ ἀνθ’ ἑνὸς ἀδικεῖ, τῷ τε ἀποστερεῖν καὶ τῷ χρήσασθαι δικαοταῖς ἀναγκάσαι. χρῶμαι δὲ τῷ τε ἐνταῦθα καὶ σοί, τὸν μὲν πείσας πέμψαι στρατιώτην, σοῦ δὲ δεόμενος μὴ τῆς ἀνάγκης αὐτὸν ἐξελέσθαι τῇ τοῦ σοὶ διακονεῖν προ- φάσει.