To Demetrius, sophist and friend. (362)
What debt you say I have not repaid, I do not know. But the trouble with my head is an old story. I was struck when I was twenty -- that was twenty-eight years ago now -- and it has recently become famous thanks to the help of the gods. For the things that come from the temples to our bodies carry something of the miraculous and provoke much talk.
But do not merely sympathize with me -- persuade the divinity who set you your task to say something about me too. He is duty-bound to reward me for two speeches, which even Zenobius mentioned with admiration. That is how powerfully the god's hand guided them.
I would like to honor your god with my own speeches as well -- and I could do so by reading yours. So send them, and teach a neighboring city who this god is that upholds yours.
What debt you say I have not repaid, I do not know. But the trouble with my head is an old story. I was struck when I was twenty -- that was twenty-eight years ago now -- and it has recently become famous thanks to the help of the gods. For the things that come from the temples to our bodies carry something of the miraculous and provoke much talk.
But do not merely sympathize with me -- persuade the divinity who set you your task to say something about me too. He is duty-bound to reward me for two speeches, which even Zenobius mentioned with admiration. That is how powerfully the god's hand guided them.
I would like to honor your god with my own speeches as well -- and I could do so by reading yours. So send them, and teach a neighboring city who this god is that upholds yours.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.