To Musonius.
I had wanted to write to you before -- everything people sing about your character encouraged it. But I held back, thinking it would be presumptuous to write before we had actually met.
Then Spectatus wrote to say there is a place in your thoughts for the memory of me, and that if I wrote, I would be writing to someone who wanted it. I obeyed at once, counting it a gain if you did not think me impudent, and no loss if you did -- since Spectatus would be the one to pay the penalty.
But I should expect the better outcome. After all, you are the man who saved Greece [by his administration] and who has now opened the imperial palace to the art of rhetoric. And I myself, if not among those who produce fine speeches, am at least among those who love fine speeches. So it is likely I will find you gracious -- both toward this letter and toward the man who carries it.
It is admittedly absurd to write on someone else's behalf before learning how my own letter will be received, but let the boldness stand. Be everything to Letoius -- for my sake, the bold one.
I had wanted to write to you before -- everything people sing about your character encouraged it. But I held back, thinking it would be presumptuous to write before we had actually met.
Then Spectatus wrote to say there is a place in your thoughts for the memory of me, and that if I wrote, I would be writing to someone who wanted it. I obeyed at once, counting it a gain if you did not think me impudent, and no loss if you did -- since Spectatus would be the one to pay the penalty.
But I should expect the better outcome. After all, you are the man who saved Greece [by his administration] and who has now opened the imperial palace to the art of rhetoric. And I myself, if not among those who produce fine speeches, am at least among those who love fine speeches. So it is likely I will find you gracious -- both toward this letter and toward the man who carries it.
It is admittedly absurd to write on someone else's behalf before learning how my own letter will be received, but let the boldness stand. Be everything to Letoius -- for my sake, the bold one.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.