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

To Sopater. (~362 AD) I owe this Sopater a debt from an old kindness. Once, traveling from Athens toward Thrace, I was caught in a heavy downpour and took shelter at Plataea in a wretched little building — into which this very man had also fled from the same storm. At first we talked about the violent rain and what it would do to the road. Then we asked each other where we were heading. When it became clear we were bound for the same place, and I added that I was traveling to teach young men, he was delighted — for he was a friend of the governor — at having the power to do me a good turn, and I considered the man a gift from Hermes. The journey was no worse than a festival, and when we reached the Bosporus, he made good on his promises. I have remembered that kindness ever since. I have longed to repay it. I have been looking for the occasion — and now it comes. For with you governing Arabia, something good might come to this man at my request. I ask you, then: first, to receive this old man warmly; second, to look after him in his absence; and third, to make him stronger than those who oppress him — so that by what you give through your authority, I may surpass the measure of what I received from him.

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.