To Gaianus. (357/58)
Word has reached us that you have attained the highest level in eloquence, and that your character is no worse than your rhetoric. Learning this, I wanted nothing more than to meet a man of such qualities. But since the greater wish cannot yet be fulfilled, I have turned to the second-best voyage [i.e., the next-best option] and am writing to you.
To write before we have even met — rather than thinking this strange, I consider it a sign of affection. And I am so confident that you will not disdain my friendship that I do not hesitate to ask a favor already.
Domnus is a fellow citizen of yours, known to me, and a poor man. Through inexperience in legal matters and a lack of advocates, he is being enrolled as a city councilor [a costly compulsory obligation]. He came here hoping to fight the decision, and being entitled to an exemption, he obtained a postponement. Now, about to return home, he begs me to write to you asking for your help. His hopes rest on you in any case, but he is convinced that this letter will add something further.
I have treated his request as my own gain — a double gain, in fact, if I can do a favor for one friend and acquire another — and I readily agreed. He then departed in the night, hurried along by his traveling companions, but I have not abandoned my promise even so. I urge you now, and for the future, to be a harbor for Domnus, and to persuade those good people of Tyre that holding on to the destitute means driving citizens out, not providing benefactors for the city.
Word has reached us that you have attained the highest level in eloquence, and that your character is no worse than your rhetoric. Learning this, I wanted nothing more than to meet a man of such qualities. But since the greater wish cannot yet be fulfilled, I have turned to the second-best voyage [i.e., the next-best option] and am writing to you.
To write before we have even met — rather than thinking this strange, I consider it a sign of affection. And I am so confident that you will not disdain my friendship that I do not hesitate to ask a favor already.
Domnus is a fellow citizen of yours, known to me, and a poor man. Through inexperience in legal matters and a lack of advocates, he is being enrolled as a city councilor [a costly compulsory obligation]. He came here hoping to fight the decision, and being entitled to an exemption, he obtained a postponement. Now, about to return home, he begs me to write to you asking for your help. His hopes rest on you in any case, but he is convinced that this letter will add something further.
I have treated his request as my own gain — a double gain, in fact, if I can do a favor for one friend and acquire another — and I readily agreed. He then departed in the night, hurried along by his traveling companions, but I have not abandoned my promise even so. I urge you now, and for the future, to be a harbor for Domnus, and to persuade those good people of Tyre that holding on to the destitute means driving citizens out, not providing benefactors for the city.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.