To Gaius. (362)
It seems I have received young Gaius as the child of three fathers: the one who begot him, you his uncle and namesake, and further the maker of noble speeches, the excellent Acacius, who from the moment he himself arrived until the young man came never stopped saying that a good son of good parents would come, a friend from friends, a second Titianus.
Consider, then, what sort of man I would be, about to gratify so many, when I would not have been negligent even at the command of one. For your brother, being both your brother and a companion of decency, deserves our respect; and you dwell with the Muses and have the power to praise before them whomever you wish. Is it not dangerous, then, not to obey you in everything?
As for the strength of Acacius, with which he does great good — though the other side of it another man might know better — who, upon reflecting, would not place before all others the one whom Acacius ranks alongside Titianus?
So I become a father to Gaius. And I count him fortunate for the few days in which he tasted Acacius's mysteries. For it is plain to see that he has partaken of sacred rites.
It seems I have received young Gaius as the child of three fathers: the one who begot him, you his uncle and namesake, and further the maker of noble speeches, the excellent Acacius, who from the moment he himself arrived until the young man came never stopped saying that a good son of good parents would come, a friend from friends, a second Titianus.
Consider, then, what sort of man I would be, about to gratify so many, when I would not have been negligent even at the command of one. For your brother, being both your brother and a companion of decency, deserves our respect; and you dwell with the Muses and have the power to praise before them whomever you wish. Is it not dangerous, then, not to obey you in everything?
As for the strength of Acacius, with which he does great good — though the other side of it another man might know better — who, upon reflecting, would not place before all others the one whom Acacius ranks alongside Titianus?
So I become a father to Gaius. And I count him fortunate for the few days in which he tasted Acacius's mysteries. For it is plain to see that he has partaken of sacred rites.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.