Letter 104

104. To Modestus, the Prefect

The very act of writing to so great a man, even if no other occasion be present, is among the greatest honours for those who can perceive it; for converse with men who tower above the rest of the multitude confers the highest distinction on those judged worthy of it. But to me, who am in anguish on behalf of a whole homeland, this approach to your magnanimity is a necessity; and I beg you to bear with it gently and in your own manner, and to stretch out your hand to our homeland, which is now brought to its knees. The matter for which we entreat you is of this kind.

The old census left those consecrated to our God — the presbyters and deacons — exempt from tax. But those who have now made the registration, supposing that they had received no order from your transcendent authority, registered them — except where some happened to have exemption on other grounds, by reason of age. We ask, then, that this be granted to us as a memorial of your beneficence, preserving a good remembrance of you for all time to come, and that, according to the old law, those who serve as priests be released from this assessment. And we ask that the exemption be granted not to the persons of those now in office (for in that way the favour would pass to their successors, who are not in every case worthy to hold the priesthood), but that, after the pattern of the free census, a general concession be made for the clergy, so that exemption may be given by those who administer the churches to whoever are serving at any given time.

This will both preserve for your great nature an immortal glory for your good deeds, and will furnish the imperial house with many who pray for it, and will bring great benefit even to the public revenues — since we provide the relief that comes from exemption not at all to the clergy as such, but to those who are continually worn down with toil; which is just what we do also in the case of the freedmen's census, as anyone who wishes may learn.