Letter 754: I owe this Sopater a debt from an old kindness.

I owe a debt of gratitude to this man Sopater for an old kindness. For once, as I was journeying from Athens toward Thrace, when a heavy rainstorm came on, I took refuge at Plataea in a poor lodging, into which this same man too took refuge from the same downpour. At first, then, our talk was of the violent rain and what sort of road it would make; and after that we asked one another where we were hastening. And when it became clear that we were going to the same place, and I added that I was traveling to keep company with young men, he, since indeed he was a friend of the governor, was delighted to have it in his power to do me good, while I considered the man a gift of Hermes. And so the road was for us no worse than a festival, and when we came to the Bosporus, he made good his promises. Now I remembered the favor, and I was eager to repay it, and I was seeking an opportunity, and the man who did me good arrives [in need of help]; for, since you preside over Arabia, some good might come to him through my asking. I ask you, then, first to look upon this old man gladly, then, when he is absent, to seek him out, and third to make him stronger than those who do him violence, so that I may, by the measure of what I received from him, surpass it through the gifts given by your hand.

Παλαιᾶς τινος εὐεργεσίας Σωπάτρῳ τούτῳ χάριν ὀφείλω· τυχον μὶν γὰρ Ἀθήνηθέν πότι πορευόμενος ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, Μου δὲ γενομένου πολλοῦ καταφεύγω Πλαταιᾶσιν εἰς οἴκημα φαῦλον, εἰς ὃ καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καταφεύγει. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον λόγος ἦν ἡμῖν ὁ σφοδρὸς ὑετὸς καὶ οἵαν ἐργάσεται τὴν ὁδόν· ἔπειτ’ ἀλλήλους ἡρωτῶμεν, οἶ σπεύ- δομεν. ὡς δὲ ἐγένετο δῆλον ὅτι πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ χωρίον, καὶ προσέθηκα τὸ βαδίζειν ἐπὶ συνουσίᾳ νέων, ὁ μέν, καὶ γὰρ ἤ τῷ ἄρχοντι φίλος, ἥσθη δύναμιν ἔχων εὖ με ποιεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ Ἑρμοῦ δῶρον τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἡγούμην. ἥ τε οὖν ὁδὸς οὐ χείρων ἡμῖν ἑορτῆς, καὶ ὡς ἥκομεν ἐπὶ τὸν Βόσπορον, ἐμ βαίου τὰς ὑποσχέσεις. ἐγὼ δὲ τῆς μὲν χάριτος ἐμεμνήμην, ἀποδοῦναι δὲ ἐπεθύμουν, καιρὸν δὲ ἐζήτουν, ὁ δὲ εὖ ποιῶν ἥκει· σοῦ γὰρ ἐφεστηκότος Ἀραβίᾳ γένοιτ’ ἄν τι τῷδε καλὸν ἐμοῦ δεομένου. δέομαι δή σου τὸν πρεσβύτην τοῦτον πρῶ- τὸν ἢ ἡδέως ὁρᾶν, ἔπειτα ἀπόντα ζητεῖν καὶ τρίτον ἰσχυρό- τερον τῶν βιαζομένων ποιεῖν, ὅπως ἂν ὧν ἔλαβον παρ’ αὐτοῦ τὸ μέτρο· τοῖς διὰ σοῦ διδομένοις παρέλθω.