To Clematius. (358?)
How pleasant your company is — your deeds, performed with justice, there for all to see, and Julianus narrating his own, all of which were likewise done with justice. You seem to me like a wrestler pressing through his labors toward the crown, while he already wears his.
I do fear, though, that Julianus may abandon Egypt, where he is being sent to toil without profit, and instead sit beside you in conversation — fleeing business but delighting in friends more than others delight in business.
But you must stir and encourage him. For I believe this concern of his with ships will show us the man to be a governor of nations.
How pleasant your company is — your deeds, performed with justice, there for all to see, and Julianus narrating his own, all of which were likewise done with justice. You seem to me like a wrestler pressing through his labors toward the crown, while he already wears his.
I do fear, though, that Julianus may abandon Egypt, where he is being sent to toil without profit, and instead sit beside you in conversation — fleeing business but delighting in friends more than others delight in business.
But you must stir and encourage him. For I believe this concern of his with ships will show us the man to be a governor of nations.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.