Letter 330: If I were writing to introduce Hieronymus to you before you had met him, I would be asking you to befriend the man.

To Clematius. (357/58) If I were writing to introduce Hieronymus to you before you had met him, I would be asking you to befriend the man. But since you got there first and made him your friend on your own, all I can say is how right you were to do so. First — and this carries weight with you — Hieronymus was my fellow student, bound by mutual affection through our shared study of rhetoric. Second, he is so decent a man that, though he had grounds to reproach me for neglecting to write on his behalf to you, he set aside the complaint and simply asked me to write. When I told him a letter would be pointless, since under the division of the province he falls under another governor's jurisdiction, he named you as his governor regardless — even if someone were to carve Palestine into still more pieces — and praised you in terms that surpassed even your most enthusiastic admirers. And he was convincing, because any suspicion of flattery was removed by the fact that Elusa [his city] had been assigned to someone else. All this shows that your regard was not wasted on a man of poor character. And if a good orator deserves admiration, you have admired a noble one — formidable in saying what needs to be said, formidable in keeping silent where silence is better, possessing a tongue no worse than his mind. So you will always remember Hieronymus's art, and he will remember Clematius's precision in judgment. He will seek your justice, and you his eloquence.

Κληματίῳ. (357/58) Εἰ μέν, πρὶν μάθῃς Ἱερώνυμον, ἐπέστελλόν σοι περὶ αὐτοῦ διδάσκων, ὅστις ἐστὶν Ἱερώνυμος, ἠξίουν ἄν σε τὸν ἄνδρα φιλεῖν· νῦν δ’ ἐπειδὴ φθάσας αὐτὸν ἐποιήσω φίλον, ὡς εἰκότως τοῦτο ἐποίησας εἰπεῖν ἔστι μοι. πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, ὃ παρὰ σοὶ μέγα, συμφοιτητὴς ἐμὸς Ἱερώνυμος φιλῶν καὶ φιλούμενος ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν λόγων. ἔπειθ’ οὕτως ἐστὶ χρηστός, ὥστ’ ἔχων ἐγκαλεῖν, ὅτι δὴ παρέλιπον τοὺς ὅπερ αὐτοῦ πρὸς σὲ λόγους, ἀφεὶς αἰτιᾶσθαι γράφειν ἠξίου. λέ- γοντος δέ μου μάταιον εἶναι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν, εἶναι γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπ’ ἄλλῳ κατὰ τὴν τομὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς, σέ τε ὠνόμαζεν ἄρ- χοντα αὑτοῦ, κἂν εἰς πλείω τις διαπρίσῃ τὴν Παλαιστίνην, καὶ τῶν πάνυ σε δοκούντων ἐπαινεῖν ἐπαινῶν ἐκράτει. καὶ ἦν πιθανός· ἀπῆν γὰρ τὸ δοκεῖν κολακεύειν τῷ τὴν Ἔλουσαν ἑτέρου γεγονέναι. ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν δείκνυσιν ὡς οὐκ εἰς φαῦλον τοὺς τρόπους ἐχρήσω σπουδῇ ῥήτορα δὲ ἀγαθὸν εἰ θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, ῥήτορα γενναῖον τεθαύμακας δεινὸν μὲν εἱπεῖν ὃ προσῆκον εἰπεῖν, δεινὸν δὲ διγάν ὃ σιγᾶν βέλτιον, γλῶτταν δὲ οὐ χείρω τοῦ νοῦ κεκτημένον. σύ τε οὖν ἀεὶ μεμνήσῃ τῆς Ἱερωνύμου τέχνης οὗτός τε τῆς Κληματίου περὶ τὴν ψῆφον ἀκριβείας, καὶ ζητήσει τὴν μὲν σὴν οὗτος δικαιο- σύνην, τὴν τοῦδε δὲ σὺ ῥητορείαν.