To Alkimos. (357)
I received your letter through Thorax. He said he would deliver further documents from which I could learn what needs to be done for you, but he barely shows up, and even then hands over nothing.
If I do receive those documents, I shall prove myself the kind of friend you hope for. But let your city share some of its bears with us. In raising this with you — what the city council ought to provide — I am perhaps not off the mark, since your city, to its credit, listens to you.
Consider that the same act will win applause for both of us: for us, as having made an earnest effort to obtain them; for you, as having given them without grudging. And how pleasant, when a bear performs marvels, for the one who asks "Where did this come from?" to hear: "From the Bithynians."
I received your letter through Thorax. He said he would deliver further documents from which I could learn what needs to be done for you, but he barely shows up, and even then hands over nothing.
If I do receive those documents, I shall prove myself the kind of friend you hope for. But let your city share some of its bears with us. In raising this with you — what the city council ought to provide — I am perhaps not off the mark, since your city, to its credit, listens to you.
Consider that the same act will win applause for both of us: for us, as having made an earnest effort to obtain them; for you, as having given them without grudging. And how pleasant, when a bear performs marvels, for the one who asks "Where did this come from?" to hear: "From the Bithynians."
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.