To Marcianus. (355/56)
The friendship I have formed with your son is the most pleasant thing in the world to me — for besides being a formidable speaker, he is a good man — and your letter on the subject is no less welcome than the friendship itself, for it arrived as fine words about a fine matter, from a tongue always in motion, one that has produced more than anyone else's and finer work than it is prolific.
If you wrote long ago and I write only now, do not be surprised. It was fitting for you to be bold and for me to hesitate. The bearer of this letter is himself far better than any letter: Sabinus, the man mad for eloquence, the treasury of speeches.
The whole troupe of Mimes is also coming to you, all first-rate, and I know that once you have shaken off your illness you will leap like Pan when you see what you have long desired — Strategius now performing in Phoenicia in this role. Priscianus will stand beside you, helping his father and sharing his joy. You too will see how much Priscianus wins with his words. A fitting festival for Berytus.
The friendship I have formed with your son is the most pleasant thing in the world to me — for besides being a formidable speaker, he is a good man — and your letter on the subject is no less welcome than the friendship itself, for it arrived as fine words about a fine matter, from a tongue always in motion, one that has produced more than anyone else's and finer work than it is prolific.
If you wrote long ago and I write only now, do not be surprised. It was fitting for you to be bold and for me to hesitate. The bearer of this letter is himself far better than any letter: Sabinus, the man mad for eloquence, the treasury of speeches.
The whole troupe of Mimes is also coming to you, all first-rate, and I know that once you have shaken off your illness you will leap like Pan when you see what you have long desired — Strategius now performing in Phoenicia in this role. Priscianus will stand beside you, helping his father and sharing his joy. You too will see how much Priscianus wins with his words. A fitting festival for Berytus.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.