Letter 7: I'm embarrassed to be asking you a favor when I've never done you any kindness, and don't expect I ever will.
I'm embarrassed to be asking you a favor when I've never done you any kindness, and don't expect I ever will. But since my concern is for a young man, I have no choice but to ask -- and you'll have to forgive me.
What I'm asking is this: give us some word about Romanus, whose welfare weighs on me. This could come through your goodwill, and if he benefits from it, he'll gain as much from your favor as a man who's spent years in the courts gains from long experience. And there's a second favor: if you intend to grant the first, write and tell me that you will.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Μαρτινιανῷ. (392?)
Αἰσχύνομαι μὲν αἰτῶν σε χάριν οὐδέν σε οὐδέπω εὑ
πεποιηκὼς οὐδὲ ἐλπίζων, ὅμως δέ, ἐπειδήπερ ὑπὲρ παιδὸς ἡ
φροντίς, ἐμοὶ μὲν αἰτεῖν ἀνάγκη, σὺ δὲ σύγγνωθι.
δέομαι
20 δή σου δοῦναι ἡμῖν ἀκοῦσαί τι περὶ Ῥωμανοῦ, οὗ φροντὶς
καλόν. τοῦτο δὲ γένοιτ᾿ ἄν ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς εὐνοίας, ἧς εἰ ἀπολαύ-
σειεν, ἔξει τοσοῦτον ὅσον ᾧ πολὺς ἐν τῷ συνδικεῖν ὁ χρόνος,
παρὰ τοῦ χρόνου. χάρις δὲ ἑτέρα. εἰ μέλλων δώσειν ἐκείνην
ἐπιστείλαις ὡς δώσεις.
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