Letter 155
To Domitian, the Jurist
I know quite clearly, from the facts themselves, that your greatest pleasure is to do good, and that you are always ready to hold out a helping hand to the needy. I appeal to you with this very purpose, thinking to turn, as they say, the horse to the plain. My dear friend, you should now show more kindness than ever, inasmuch as the future beneficiary is in this case the more pitiable, for it is woman that is in question, who has the misfortune to be a widow, and her sufferings have been shared with an orphan child. Who is that has wronged her, in what way, and how, she herself will instruct your goodness. I beg you, therefore, my friend, to come to her aid, because that would be a good deed, and one worthy of you, and I ask for my sake as well, for I too will share with you in whatever befalls her. She is a kinswoman of mine, and brought up virtuously under an honourable mother in our midst.
Letter 156
To Domitian, the Jurist
Whatsoever things are righteous to stand in need of allies, and those who come to their rescue may be accounted fortunate, inasmuch as they are co-operating with the upright. It is you whom I have chosen as the bulwark of these principles, as you will defend them with knowledge and skill. It is my desire to do good to all whom I can benefit. Do you yourself give me the opportunity! You will gain knowledge of a friendship that you will not yourself regret, and which no one is likely to ridicule.