Theodoret of Cyrrhus → Arigius, Patrician

To the Patrician Senator,

Thanks be to the Savior of the world, who continues to add dignity and honor to your greatness. The reason I have not written before now to express my delight at this crowning distinction is simply that I did not wish to trouble your magnificence.

But I write now because the district Providence has entrusted to my care stands, as the proverb says, on a razor's edge.

You will remember the tax assessment conducted when we first benefited from your presence among us -- how it was established with difficulty under the excellent prefect Florentius, and confirmed by his successor. Now a man who bears the name of bishop, but whose behavior is unworthy of even stage actors, has fled the episcopal synod while under sentence of excommunication. He is trying to discredit and overturn the assessment, and through his hatred of the distinguished Philip he assails the truth itself.

I beg your excellency to render his lies powerless and to ensure that the lawfully confirmed assessment stands undisturbed. It would be fitting for your greatness to reap the fruit of this good deed alongside all your others -- to receive the grateful praise of those you are protecting, and so to honor both the God of all and his true servant, the man of God the Lord Jacob, who joins me in this appeal. Had it been his custom to write, he would have written himself.