Letter 208: The usurper must be reprimanded — not to gratify those who are watching, and not to make a point at his expense, but...

On gentleness. Do not make lawful rule barbarous by ill-fitting ways, but adorn it with the practices that befit it, the practices of gentleness: imparting to the disheartened, and granting equity to the lesser in their dealings with the greater. Then you will raise up a brilliant beacon of good government. For justice is the kindling-fuel of the luminary of good governance.

Περὶ πραΰτητος. Μὴ τὴν ἔννομον ἀρχὴν τοῖς ἀναρμόστοις ἤθεσιν ἐκβαρδάρους, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρέπουσιν αὐτῇ πράγμασι κατακόσμει πραΰτητος· μεταδιδοὺς τοῖς ἀθύμοις, καὶ ἰσότητος τοῖς ἥττοσι πρὸς τοὺς μείζους· καὶ τότε λαμπρὴν ἐξάξεις πυρσὸν τῆς εὐνομίας. Ὑπέκκαυμα γάρ ἐστι δικαιοσύνη τοῦ φωστῆρος τῆς εὐαρχίας. ΣΘ΄. – ΘΕΟΓΝΩΣΤΩ. Εἴ τι τῆς ὕλης ἴδιον, εἴ τι πλάνης ἐφόδιον, εἴ τι ἀπάτης εἴδωλον ἐν ἡμῖν ἢ ἔνοικος εἰσέρφησε ῥᾳθυμία, τοῦτο τῷ δημιουργῷ καὶ ποιητῇ τῆς κακίας ἐπιῤῥίπτεσθαι παρ’ ἡμῶν ὁ Κύριος βούλεται. Εἰ δὲ ἀρετῆς σύμβουλον, εἴ τι σεμνότητος γνώρισμα, εἴ τι νήψεως καὶ ἀσφαλείας ἐμπόρευμα (1), τοῦτο Θεοῦ καὶ ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ πεπεῖσθαι τυγχάνειν δώρημα, καὶ ἀξίαν αὐτῷ προσκομίζειν τὴν αἴνεσιν. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ φησιν, «Ἀπόδοτε τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ.»