I f in your province,1 my master, you come across a certain Themistocles, who says that he is known to Apollonius my teacher2 in philosophy, understand that he is a person who came to Rome this winter and was brought to my notice by Apollonius the son, at his father's request. May I ask you, my master, to befriend him, and advise him, as far as you can. For you will, I know, be always most ready to do what is just and proper by all Asians, but counsel and courtesy and all those personal civilities, which both honour and conscience pennit a proconsul to shew his friends, so long as no one else is injured thereby—these I ask you freely to extend to Themistocles. Farewell, my most delightful of masters. No answer is required.
? 153–154 A.D.
Fronto to Antoninus Pius Augustus.