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(Letters 827)
This Elpidius is the son of the excellent Xiphidius, and while he is not lagging behind his father in his craft, he is the gentlest of men and, having cultivated modesty, he has preserved it from his youth to his old age and thus he has acquired many friends of whom I am one. That you should welcome him as one who had come as a helper for the city, was only proper, since it might well honour the man with an image if - Poseidon granting - he makes you well-watered (katarrytos). However, he hoped to get something more from the fact that he knew full well the friendship that exists between me and yourself, and perhaps justly so, for it is common knowledge what you are to me and that whoever is a friend of mine is honoured by you. So then, confirm the hopes and make much of the man and honour him, partly because the reason for which he has come and partly as our companion.
Comment by Crow 2008: This letter is addressed to Modestus. Mango (1995), 14 n. 23 is probably right in suspecting 'that Elpidius had a wider remit than supervising the construction of the cistern of Modestus'. Work on the cistern of Modestus began in 363.
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