Letter 346
To Sebastianus. (358?)
Even if you did not know before what sort of man Julianus is in character, you could see it now that he is here. For when there was gold to be carried from the harbor of Egypt, no one sought him out. But now that the profits have turned elsewhere, and the grain needs a man who will bring his virtue without pay, now he is praised and sent. And who could be more useful than he? And much else of this sort.
As for Julianus, his love of quiet and the serious matter of being separated from wife and children urged him to stay. But not wanting those who did not know him to think he was avoiding the labor because there was nothing to gain, he undertook, though with tears, to fill the grain ships.
Seeing him distressed, I reminded him of you and said, "Stop grieving — Sebastianus is in Egypt." At once he smiled and was relieved. In his sorrow he had not even thought of this — that he would see you along with the Nile. Be everything to this man: he is poor, just, and your friend.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
I mourn for the Church that is deprived of the guidance of such a shepherd. But I have so much the more ground for congratulating you on being worthy of the privilege of enjoying, at such a moment, the society of one who is fighting such a good fight in the cause of the truth, and I am sure that you, who nobly support and stimulate his zeal, wil...
The worse the diseases of the Churches grow, the more do we all turn to your excellency, in the belief that your championship is the one consolation left to us in our troubles. By the power of your prayers, and your knowledge of what is the best course to suggest in the emergency, you are believed to be able to save us from this terrible tempest...