Letter 287: When you took on the governorship of Egypt, I took on the obligation of writing to you about my friends.

To Gerontius. (361) When you were receiving the governorship of the Egyptians, at that very moment I was incurring the necessity of writing to you about my friends. For they were bound to ask me for letters, and there would have been no excuse for me if I did not give them. The first, then, of those who ask for and carry one is Heraclides, a gentle man, skilled in speaking, well disposed toward me, an ornament to Memphis. Show me, then, by your conduct toward him whether one ought to make such recommendations or not.

Γεροντίῳ. (361) Ὅτε σὺ τὴν ἀρχὴν Αἰγυπτίων ἐδέχου, τότε ἐγὼ τοῦ περὶ τῶν φίλων σοι γράφειν ἀνάγκην. ἐκεῖνοί τε γὰρ ἔμελλον αἰτή- σειν ἐπιστολὰς ἐμοί τε οὐκ ἂν ἦν μὴ διδόντι λόγος. πρῶ- τος δὴ τῶν αἰτούντων καὶ φερόντων Ἡρακλείδης γίγνεται, πρᾷος ἀνήρ, λέγειν εἰδώς, ἐπιτήδειος ἐμοί, Μέμφιδι κόσμος. δεῖξον δή μοι τοῖς περὶ τοῦτον ἔργοις εἴτε δεῖ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπαγγέλλειν εἴτε μή.