To Demetrius. (359/60?)
Nothing from you is small, because it comes from you. And what has just arrived is positively grand, at least if one measures grandeur by pleasure. The Persian king clearly used to feast on such delicacies, since your region was once part of his empire. If the Greeks had held your land but those treats had remained Persian, I think the Great King would have campaigned to conquer your territory sooner than he marched on Athens over figs.
But grant that the gifts are small by nature -- their greatness comes from the sender, and they are not diminished by what they are but elevated by who sent them.
To prove I mean it, I am sending you two of my own speeches in return. They are far from beautiful, but you will not judge them ugly -- that is what friendship does.
Nothing from you is small, because it comes from you. And what has just arrived is positively grand, at least if one measures grandeur by pleasure. The Persian king clearly used to feast on such delicacies, since your region was once part of his empire. If the Greeks had held your land but those treats had remained Persian, I think the Great King would have campaigned to conquer your territory sooner than he marched on Athens over figs.
But grant that the gifts are small by nature -- their greatness comes from the sender, and they are not diminished by what they are but elevated by who sent them.
To prove I mean it, I am sending you two of my own speeches in return. They are far from beautiful, but you will not judge them ugly -- that is what friendship does.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.