To the same. (~358 AD)
This Domnus had a good father and an even better father-in-law — for he married the daughter of Celsus, thanks to whom Syrians are not strangers to the Italian language. But Domnus himself is the kind of man who, even without either of those connections, would rightly be honored for his character alone.
Living in a soldier's dress, he displays a disposition finer than that life's usual boldness — free from recklessness, incapable of cunning, regarding unjust gain as a loss, ready to grant a favor and to repay one received, more inclined to smile than to frown. In short, he has given no one cause for blame on any count, but many people cause for praise on a great many.
He has completed his service here and now transfers by regulation to a higher military post. His one hope of faring well there rests on your influence — and he does have reason to hope for that influence. For two things are sung among us: that you wish to help those who come from here, and that your power matches your will. What Domnus now hears, he will soon tell others from experience.
This Domnus had a good father and an even better father-in-law — for he married the daughter of Celsus, thanks to whom Syrians are not strangers to the Italian language. But Domnus himself is the kind of man who, even without either of those connections, would rightly be honored for his character alone.
Living in a soldier's dress, he displays a disposition finer than that life's usual boldness — free from recklessness, incapable of cunning, regarding unjust gain as a loss, ready to grant a favor and to repay one received, more inclined to smile than to frown. In short, he has given no one cause for blame on any count, but many people cause for praise on a great many.
He has completed his service here and now transfers by regulation to a higher military post. His one hope of faring well there rests on your influence — and he does have reason to hope for that influence. For two things are sung among us: that you wish to help those who come from here, and that your power matches your will. What Domnus now hears, he will soon tell others from experience.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.