To Strategius. (357/58)
All that mud, that bitter cold I endured at the time, and every hardship seemed light while I was looking at your face — though when I got home I gave the doctors plenty of work, my body racked with stabbing pains. Still, I was happier with the cause of my suffering than I would have been lying healthy in bed, having missed the occasion I prize most.
You remember, then, how a young man stood before you, about to speak on his own behalf, when a downpour prevented him from obtaining what he needed. You wanted to help, and what was no less fine than the favor itself was your making it plain that you were vexed at having been thwarted.
Since, then, you have found a remedy — to hear in a letter what could not be said in person — help this young man. His cause is just: he is a lover of eloquence and has lost his parents.
All that mud, that bitter cold I endured at the time, and every hardship seemed light while I was looking at your face — though when I got home I gave the doctors plenty of work, my body racked with stabbing pains. Still, I was happier with the cause of my suffering than I would have been lying healthy in bed, having missed the occasion I prize most.
You remember, then, how a young man stood before you, about to speak on his own behalf, when a downpour prevented him from obtaining what he needed. You wanted to help, and what was no less fine than the favor itself was your making it plain that you were vexed at having been thwarted.
Since, then, you have found a remedy — to hear in a letter what could not be said in person — help this young man. His cause is just: he is a lover of eloquence and has lost his parents.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.