To Silvanus.
I praised Spectatus for what he did for you -- or rather for what he did for me, since I consider everything done for you as done for myself. I was pleased when he said he had done only small things and promised greater. Obviously, once the greater things are done, he will call those small too compared with what is still to come.
You knew Iamblichus's father not so much from the number of his governorships as from the virtue he showed in them. The son you did not know, since he was young and therefore unknown. But now you will discover a son better than his father -- a man who thinks little of money and a great deal about doing something noble. No athlete loves crowns as much as this man loves relieving a friend of trouble and providing him with good things. He knows how to speak -- he is an orator -- but he also knows when to be silent, where silence is better.
If this man passes through your city without meeting you, it will be a loss for both of you: for him, in not sharing your wisdom, and for you, in not sharing his. So seize the good fortune and make use of each other's gifts.
I praised Spectatus for what he did for you -- or rather for what he did for me, since I consider everything done for you as done for myself. I was pleased when he said he had done only small things and promised greater. Obviously, once the greater things are done, he will call those small too compared with what is still to come.
You knew Iamblichus's father not so much from the number of his governorships as from the virtue he showed in them. The son you did not know, since he was young and therefore unknown. But now you will discover a son better than his father -- a man who thinks little of money and a great deal about doing something noble. No athlete loves crowns as much as this man loves relieving a friend of trouble and providing him with good things. He knows how to speak -- he is an orator -- but he also knows when to be silent, where silence is better.
If this man passes through your city without meeting you, it will be a loss for both of you: for him, in not sharing your wisdom, and for you, in not sharing his. So seize the good fortune and make use of each other's gifts.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.