6.609). In a letter from the Christian period, a patron complains to his clients that they are being ungrateful: “You have received many favors . . . from us, and I am exceedingly amazed that you remember none of them but speak badly of us. That is characteristic of a person with an ungrateful disposition. . . . For the ungrateful . . . forget noble men . . . and in addition ill-treat their [patrons] . . . as though they were enemies.”21 There is evidence that some patrons threatened to withdraw their patronage if they considered their clients to be ungrateful.
