To Italicianus. (361)
Spectatus has been a good man to us. He writes to the mother with such praises and such encouragements that he's left nothing for me — what I would say in person, he has been sending in his letters.
And what is finer still: he didn't write better things in letters carried by your people than in those carried by his own — as deceivers do — but is consistent through every letter.
So the matter is proceeding well for us. The grandmother cannot help but rejoice at hearing such things, and in her joy she will likely consent to the match.
You, I believe, should do what I have been urging you to do, since nothing better can be found for the present endeavor.
Spectatus has been a good man to us. He writes to the mother with such praises and such encouragements that he's left nothing for me — what I would say in person, he has been sending in his letters.
And what is finer still: he didn't write better things in letters carried by your people than in those carried by his own — as deceivers do — but is consistent through every letter.
So the matter is proceeding well for us. The grandmother cannot help but rejoice at hearing such things, and in her joy she will likely consent to the match.
You, I believe, should do what I have been urging you to do, since nothing better can be found for the present endeavor.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.