To Alexandra. (362)
Well, Celsus — a man, as you know, incapable of lying — said he both saw the books and received them from Diotimus, who himself declared they belonged to your master.
It seems, then, that Diotimus, having encountered a horse after a donkey, has looked down on me, the donkey, and assumes either that I am not worth bothering with or that he need not fear I might prove difficult about returning them.
So vouch for me, put his fear to rest, and persuade him neither to think me dishonest nor to believe you are deceiving him. But if he remains the same, it remains to search elsewhere — or rather, spare me this labor as well as the hunt for the Homer. For I see that finding an owl in Athens is impossible.
Well, Celsus — a man, as you know, incapable of lying — said he both saw the books and received them from Diotimus, who himself declared they belonged to your master.
It seems, then, that Diotimus, having encountered a horse after a donkey, has looked down on me, the donkey, and assumes either that I am not worth bothering with or that he need not fear I might prove difficult about returning them.
So vouch for me, put his fear to rest, and persuade him neither to think me dishonest nor to believe you are deceiving him. But if he remains the same, it remains to search elsewhere — or rather, spare me this labor as well as the hunt for the Homer. For I see that finding an owl in Athens is impossible.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.