Letter 553: I had wanted to write to you before -- everything people sing about your character encouraged it.

To Musonius. I had wanted to write to you before -- everything people sing about your character encouraged it. But I held back, thinking it would be presumptuous to write before we had actually met. Then Spectatus wrote to say there is a place in your thoughts for the memory of me, and that if I wrote, I would be writing to someone who wanted it. I obeyed at once, counting it a gain if you did not think me impudent, and no loss if you did -- since Spectatus would be the one to pay the penalty. But I should expect the better outcome. After all, you are the man who saved Greece [by his administration] and who has now opened the imperial palace to the art of rhetoric. And I myself, if not among those who produce fine speeches, am at least among those who love fine speeches. So it is likely I will find you gracious -- both toward this letter and toward the man who carries it. It is admittedly absurd to write on someone else's behalf before learning how my own letter will be received, but let the boldness stand. Be everything to Letoius -- for my sake, the bold one.

Μουσωνίῳ. (357) Ἐπῄει μέν μοι καὶ πρότερον ἐπιστεῖλαί σοι, τὰ γὰρ ᾀδό- μενα περὶ τῆς σῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦτο ἀνέπειθε, κατειχόμην δὲ τῷ νομίζειν εἶναι θρασὺ πρὶν ἐντυχεῖν ἐπιστεῖλαι. Σπε- κτάτου δὲ γεγραφότος ὡς ἔνι τις παρὰ σοὶ χώρα τῇ περὶ ἐμοῦ μνήμῃ καὶ ὡς, εἰ γράψαιμι, πρὸς ἐπιθυμοῦντα τοῦτο ἔσται, ταχέως ὑπήκουσα κέρδος μὲν ἡγούμενος, εἰ μή μου καταγνοίης προπέτειαν, βλάβος δὲ οὐδέν, εἰ καταγνοίης· Σπεκτάτον γὰρ εἶναι τὸν δώσοντα τὴν δίκην. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐλπίζειν χρὴ τὰ βελτίω. σὺ γὰρ δήπουθεν ὁ τήν τε Ἑλλάδα σεσωκὼς καὶ νῦν ἀνοίξας τὰ βασίλεια τοῖς λόγοις. εἰμὶ δέ που καὶ αὐτός, εἰ μὴ τῶν ποιούντων λόγους καλούς, τῶν γε ἐρώντων λόγων καλῶν, ὥστ’ εἰκὸς ἡμέρου σου τεύξεσθαι τήν τε ἐπιστολὴν καὶ τὸν φέροντα τὴν ἐπιστολήν. καίτοι γελοῖον μὲν ὑπὲρ ἄλλου γράφειν πρὶν ὅπως ἐκβήσεταί μοι τὸ γεγραφέναι μα- θεῖν, τετολμήσθω δ’ οὖν ὅμως, καὶ γενοῦ Λητοίῳ τὰ πάντα δι’ ἐμὲ τὸν θρασύν.