Letter 54
To Modestus. (359)
Every effort I make on your behalf is a pleasure to me. Even if the matter we are laboring over is small, the mere fact of laboring for you is its own reward. You, however, endure great toils for great causes -- bearing the fierce sun for so long, running to and fro, adding action to deliberation, and through all this holding back a terrible wave that threatens to flood the land.
But see how the worst is receding, and better things are approaching. The moment when the champion receives his crown is near.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
I feel my boldness in pressing my suit by letter upon a man in your position; still the honour that you have paid me in the past has banished all my scruples. Accordingly I write with confidence. My plea is for a relative of mine, a man worthy of respect for his integrity.
Merely to write to so great a man, even though there be no other reason, must be esteemed a great honour. For communication with personages of high distinction confers glory upon all to whom it is permitted. My supplication, however, is one which I am driven by necessity to make to your excellency, in my great distress at the condition of my who...