To Demetrios. (358/59)
It was right that you mourned your brother — since even we mourned him, though he was not our brother, because he was a good friend. But you did well to set aside the grief, which brought no benefit to the departed and was wearing down the living.
I believe the god who presides over eloquence [Hermes] became your healer, so that you might belong to your speeches rather than to your sorrow. But if this cure truly came to you from us, then your release from suffering is my gain.
As for my own writings, I hardly admire them — they fall short of beauty — but I count you fortunate for passing such a generous judgment on them.
It was right that you mourned your brother — since even we mourned him, though he was not our brother, because he was a good friend. But you did well to set aside the grief, which brought no benefit to the departed and was wearing down the living.
I believe the god who presides over eloquence [Hermes] became your healer, so that you might belong to your speeches rather than to your sorrow. But if this cure truly came to you from us, then your release from suffering is my gain.
As for my own writings, I hardly admire them — they fall short of beauty — but I count you fortunate for passing such a generous judgment on them.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.