Letter 1080: Looking after a friend's requests is the duty of a good man — especially when justice supports the petition.

To attend to the requests of friends is the duty of a person of good character, especially if fairness does not stand opposed to the demands. Where this preamble is aiming I shall briefly explain. I hold Sabinianus, a most distinguished man, in such high regard as those whom I most cultivate. I by no means allow the office of a guardianship to be imposed upon him through pressure by the children of his brother. For he wards off the injury by two privileges: the ripeness of his age and the number of his sons. This matter, set down in the public records, does not yet draw the obstinate petition away from its settled stubbornness. Now, since with fortune favoring it the hope of this business rests upon you, I ask that, with the virtue by which you stand so high, you be willing to act on behalf of the man to whom either a favor is to be granted for my sake, or the prerogative of the law is to be preserved for your own glory. Farewell.