Letter 2021: Duty suggested I should write, since the person delivering this letter hopes for more from your judgment than from mine.
Duty suggested I should write, since the person delivering this letter hopes for more from your judgment than from mine. So I'll leave everything that letters usually contain to him to tell you directly. From him your Excellency will hear both what's worth knowing about me, and what his own situation requires.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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