To Demetrios. (357)
Leontios is indeed an excellent man and not unworthy of the praise you heaped on him. I have spent only a little time with him, though, owing to the mass of my obligations. For you should know that my dealings with officials are no less burdensome than my work with students — duties I endure reluctantly but cannot escape, out of respect for those who need my help.
Even so, I did not fail to recognize Leontios's character; I found the letter confirmed in the man who carried it. He trusts your judgment about me, and in trusting it he trusts something good — but whether that trust is warranted regarding someone like me, that I do not know.
Leontios is indeed an excellent man and not unworthy of the praise you heaped on him. I have spent only a little time with him, though, owing to the mass of my obligations. For you should know that my dealings with officials are no less burdensome than my work with students — duties I endure reluctantly but cannot escape, out of respect for those who need my help.
Even so, I did not fail to recognize Leontios's character; I found the letter confirmed in the man who carried it. He trusts your judgment about me, and in trusting it he trusts something good — but whether that trust is warranted regarding someone like me, that I do not know.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.