Letter 1047: It's an old saying that talent is nourished by honor.
It's an old saying that talent is nourished by honor. Our own era has proved it true. No one distinguished in war or prominent at home has found his effort unrewarded. And so, when the deserving receive their due, hope is kindled in those who follow the same path.
I'm therefore delighted — on many people's behalf, since honest effort is winning them Fortune's favor — but most of all for my friend Julianus, whom I'd like you to love as much as I'm confident you can esteem him.
You know how rare it is, in the dust of the courtroom, to find eloquence paired with integrity. Either modesty holds back a fine mind, or success makes a fluent speaker arrogant. In my friend, these qualities coexist in such balance that his decency never silenced him and his fluency never cost him his dignity. He never sold his tongue's ornaments for a fee; despite his modest means, he traded wealth for loyalty, profit for a good name.
I'm happy to entrust him to your hands — or rather, your heart — since my deepest concern is that good people should benefit from your friendship. And I know you feel the same: nature delights in equals, and we are drawn to what resembles us.
But lest a lengthy testimonial arouse suspicion that I'm simply playing advocate, I ask you to judge him for yourself with careful scrutiny. Once you've tested his principles, you'll have tested my judgment too. Farewell.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Vetus sententia est, artes honore nutriri. eam nostrae aetatis confirmavit usus.
nemo enim belli notus aut domi clarus exortem praemii sensit industriam. ita cum
dignis fructus tribuitur, eandem viam capessentibus spes paratur. glisco igitur gaudio
cum propter alios, quibus fortunam sollers vita conciliat, tum maxime luliani fratris i&
mei gratia, quem sic a te diligi volo, ut probari posse confido. scis nempe, in illo
forensi pulvere quam rara cognatio sit facundi oris et boni pectoris, dum aut mode-
2 stum ingenium verecundia contrahit aut successu eloquens insolescit. haec in meo
familiari ac necessario ea societate viguerunt, ut neque obiectu pudoris areret nec
cum detrimento frontis adflueret. numquam in mercedem linguae omamenta cormpit 20
ac fortunis tenuis opulentiam fide, quaestum laude mutavit. merito hunc tibi in manum
vel magis in animum libens trado. nam mihi summa curatio est, ut amicitiam tuam
boni uberent. te quoque idem velle, habeo conpertum. semper enim natura aequali-
bus gaudet, et familiare sibi est omne, quod simile est. sed ne prolixo testimonio
suspicionem laudatoris incurram . quaeso ipse de eo iudices examine pensiore. ita 25
cnm illius institutum probaveris, periculum iudicii mei feceris. vale.
Related Letters
The management of our estates demands constant attention -- a truth that every landowner learns through hard experience.
If γριπίζειν is the same thing as to gain, and this is the meaning of the phrase which your sophistic ingenuity has got from the depths of Plato, consider, my dear sir, who is the more hard to be got from, I who am thus impaled by your epistolary skill, or the tribe of Sophists, whose craft is to make money out of their words. What bishop ever ...
You tried a clever trick to excuse your silence: you claimed you were holding back bad news as long as things were...
My dear brother, your letter brought me great joy.
I can hardly bear the departure of friends, but when they head off to be in your company, I feel as though they were...