To Modestus. (358)
I know you are overwhelmed with business -- the kind that admits no postponement and offers no rest. But there are moments when even the busiest man must pause to consider a case of injustice, and this is one of them.
The bearer of this letter will explain his situation more fully than I can here. I will say only this: he is an honest man, he has been wronged, and the remedy lies entirely in your hands. You have the authority and -- what matters more -- the inclination to do right. I have seen you act in such cases before, and I have never known you to fail when the cause was just.
Act now, and you will earn the gratitude of a good man and the approval of the gods. Delay, and the wrong will only compound itself, as wrongs always do when power hesitates.
I know you are overwhelmed with business -- the kind that admits no postponement and offers no rest. But there are moments when even the busiest man must pause to consider a case of injustice, and this is one of them.
The bearer of this letter will explain his situation more fully than I can here. I will say only this: he is an honest man, he has been wronged, and the remedy lies entirely in your hands. You have the authority and -- what matters more -- the inclination to do right. I have seen you act in such cases before, and I have never known you to fail when the cause was just.
Act now, and you will earn the gratitude of a good man and the approval of the gods. Delay, and the wrong will only compound itself, as wrongs always do when power hesitates.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.