Letter 553: I had wanted to write to you before -- everything people sing about your character encouraged it.

To Musonius. (357) It had occurred to me even before this to write to you, for the things sung in praise of your character urged me to this too; but I was held back by the thought that it was presumptuous to write before I had met you. But since Spectatus has written that there is some place with you for the remembrance of me, and that, if I should write, it would be to one who desires this, I quickly complied, considering it a gain if you should not condemn me for rashness, and no harm if you should condemn me; for it is Spectatus who would be the one to pay the penalty. But indeed one must hope for the better outcome. For surely you are the man who both preserved Greece and have now opened the imperial palace to letters. And I too am, in a way, if not among those who compose fine speeches, at least among those who love fine speeches, so that it is likely that both the letter and the one who carries the letter will find you gentle. And yet it is absurd to write on behalf of another before learning how the writing will turn out for me; but let it be ventured nonetheless, and be in all things a Letoius to me on account of my boldness.

Μουσωνίῳ. (357) Ἐπῄει μέν μοι καὶ πρότερον ἐπιστεῖλαί σοι, τὰ γὰρ ᾀδό- μενα περὶ τῆς σῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦτο ἀνέπειθε, κατειχόμην δὲ τῷ νομίζειν εἶναι θρασὺ πρὶν ἐντυχεῖν ἐπιστεῖλαι. Σπε- κτάτου δὲ γεγραφότος ὡς ἔνι τις παρὰ σοὶ χώρα τῇ περὶ ἐμοῦ μνήμῃ καὶ ὡς, εἰ γράψαιμι, πρὸς ἐπιθυμοῦντα τοῦτο ἔσται, ταχέως ὑπήκουσα κέρδος μὲν ἡγούμενος, εἰ μή μου καταγνοίης προπέτειαν, βλάβος δὲ οὐδέν, εἰ καταγνοίης· Σπεκτάτον γὰρ εἶναι τὸν δώσοντα τὴν δίκην. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐλπίζειν χρὴ τὰ βελτίω. σὺ γὰρ δήπουθεν ὁ τήν τε Ἑλλάδα σεσωκὼς καὶ νῦν ἀνοίξας τὰ βασίλεια τοῖς λόγοις. εἰμὶ δέ που καὶ αὐτός, εἰ μὴ τῶν ποιούντων λόγους καλούς, τῶν γε ἐρώντων λόγων καλῶν, ὥστ’ εἰκὸς ἡμέρου σου τεύξεσθαι τήν τε ἐπιστολὴν καὶ τὸν φέροντα τὴν ἐπιστολήν. καίτοι γελοῖον μὲν ὑπὲρ ἄλλου γράφειν πρὶν ὅπως ἐκβήσεταί μοι τὸ γεγραφέναι μα- θεῖν, τετολμήσθω δ’ οὖν ὅμως, καὶ γενοῦ Λητοίῳ τὰ πάντα δι’ ἐμὲ τὸν θρασύν.