Letter 150: Those colts of mine, whom I have led from the meadows of the Muses and given to you -- some were summoned by you,...
To Modestus. (358-361)
Those colts of mine, whom I have led from the meadows of the Muses and given to you -- some were summoned by you, others came uninvited. I congratulate the first group on the honor you have shown them, and the second on their own longing for you. For by running to you of their own accord, they show that they would rightly have been among those invited.
You will look after all of them -- the wealthy ones, so they may gain reputation, and the poor ones, so they may gain resources. But you should show something extra to those who were not thought worthy of the invitation. For the invited ones, even if they say nothing, already have no small thing. But the uninvited need a word of comfort -- both to hear and to receive.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Μοδέστῳ. (358—361)
Τῶν ἐμῶν πώλων, οὓς ἄγων ἐκ Μουσικῶν λειμώνων
ἔδωκά σοι, τοὺς μὲν κεκλημένους ὑπὸ σοῦ, τοὺς δὲ ἀκλήτους
ὁρᾷς. ὧν τοὺς μὲν εὐδαιμονίζω τῆς παρὰ σοῦ τιμῆς, τοὺς
δὲ τοῦ περὶ δὲ πόθου. δηλοῦσι γὰρ οἷς αὐτόματοι τρέχουσιν,
ὡς εἰκότως ἂν ἦσαν ἐν τοῖς κεκλημένοις.
πάντων μὲν οὖν
ἐπιμελήσῃ, τῶν μὲν εὐπόρων, ἵνα κτήσωνται δόξαν, τῶν δὲ
πενήτων, ἵνα καὶ τούτοις χρήματα· πλέον δέ σοί τι δεικτέον
περὶ τοὺς οὐ δοκοῦντας ἠξιῶσθαι τῆς τιμῆς, ὡς τοῖς μέν,
κἂν σιγήσωσιν, οὐ μικρὸν ἐκεῖνο, τοῖς δ᾿ ἓν εἰς παραμυθίαν
εἰπεῖν τε καὶ λαβεῖν.
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