To Belaeus. (362)
I love Magnus, as one naturally loves a fellow student and a good man, and I admire him as a formidable and powerful orator. I would like him to go on defeating his opponents here and to enjoy the fruits of his land there — not large, but ancestral.
The victories he provides me the pleasure of seeing with my own eyes, as he routs one adversary after another. But that he receive something from his property — let that be your concern. And it will be, if you acknowledge those he has appointed to manage his affairs and receive them kindly when they need a hearing.
So grant him both these favors, and write — for in that way you will give two gifts: the deeds and the account of them. But if you do the one and fail to add the other, we shall indict you before the Muses for dishonoring their earlier chorus.
I love Magnus, as one naturally loves a fellow student and a good man, and I admire him as a formidable and powerful orator. I would like him to go on defeating his opponents here and to enjoy the fruits of his land there — not large, but ancestral.
The victories he provides me the pleasure of seeing with my own eyes, as he routs one adversary after another. But that he receive something from his property — let that be your concern. And it will be, if you acknowledge those he has appointed to manage his affairs and receive them kindly when they need a hearing.
So grant him both these favors, and write — for in that way you will give two gifts: the deeds and the account of them. But if you do the one and fail to add the other, we shall indict you before the Muses for dishonoring their earlier chorus.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.