Letter 530
To Anatolius.
Right now we are exerting ourselves over a matter of the greatest importance, and if you are willing, you will have done us the greatest favor. The same act will both help us and bring credit to you, because defending people who are being wronged frees them from trouble and earns the defender a better reputation.
Consider everything that calls you to this cause. Apollinarius is being dragged to Italy by men who have already devoured many cities and now want to swallow him too. Let that move you first: the man is decent, he belongs to a distinguished family, and he is accomplished in literature. Those are three reasons for you to take up his case.
He has been my friend from long ago and has only deepened his affection over time. Before you as judge, that ought to count for more than all the rest. But hear the strongest argument of all: he is the brother of Cyrinus, who in his own governorship imitated your example -- keeping his hands to himself and never stretching them out [i.e., never taking bribes].
This Cyrinus keeps two constant concerns in his mind: his son and me. He cares about the boy's education in rhetoric, and about me maintaining my reputation as a master of it. Seeing his brother being persecuted, he recognized the only hope -- your courage. He urged me to write to you, though he was too timid to write himself, making just this one mistake: being a rhetorician who lacks boldness.
So respect his modesty, weigh everything else I have told you, and match toward his brother the devotion that Cyrinus has shown toward me.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.