111. К Гемеллу 80

Others congratulate your honor on receiving the position, and I, congratulating the city, congratulate your magnificence not on official honors (you are above such things), but on the opportunity thus given to you, without hindrance and in a wide range of actions, to show your truthfulness and your philanthropy and to bring benefit accordingly. I am sure that you will understand even those firmly tied to the earth, feeding on such dreams as human glory, that the greatness of a leader does not consist in a toga, not in a belt, and not in the cries of a herald, but in raising the suppressed to its feet, correcting what has been done badly, punishing untruth, and not allowing the truth to suffer persecution from force. I know your straightforwardness, your freedom of speech, the loftiness of your spirit, your indifference to everyday calculations, your aversion from everything evil, your kindness and philanthropy - the quality that is primarily necessary in a boss. Therefore, I have no doubt that you will be a haven for those overwhelmed, a support for those exhaustedly falling on shaky legs, a saving fortress for those unjustly persecuted by force; and it will be easy for you. You will not need any labor, no effort, no long time to become all this. But just as the sun appears - and the darkness disappears instantly, so you only had to appear in your chair - and, I am sure, from the very first day you already stopped the attempts of the offenders, saving their victims from the threatening danger even before they had to resort to judgment: in order for this to be so, one common opinion about the wisdom of your soul is enough. That is why, despite my imprisonment in the desert and the many other unfortunate circumstances of my situation, I am filled with great joy, since I consider the defense of everyone oppressed to be our common joy. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” From Kukuz, in 404 or 405. You might be interested in: