Letter 275: What happened was just as you predicted in your letter.

To Leontius. (358) What happened was just as you predicted in your letter. I was immediately glad to see Cleopatrus because of the letter of introduction, but as I got to know the young man, the letter was no longer the main thing -- it was his own qualities that drew me in more. He struck me as a good judge of oratory, and the way he talked made clear the rhetorical skill in his writing. Moreover, he gratified me by his love for you, and by delighting both in what he reported you said about me and in what he heard me say about you. The grace in his face, his voice, his bearing -- in short, there was nothing about him that was not charming. Together with nature, you have produced such a kinsman by adding your own contributions to what nature gave. May you raise children equally fine for the family.

Λεοντίῳ. (358) Ἔπαθον ὃ ἐπέσταλκας· εὐθὺς μὲν ἡδέως τὸν Κλεόπατρον εἶδον διὰ τὴν ἐπιστολήν, πειρώμενος δὲ τοῦ νεανίσκου τὴν μὲν ἐπιστολὴν οὐκ εἶχον μὴ αἰδεῖσθαι, τοῖς παρ’ αὐτοῦ δὲ πλέον εἱλκόμην. κρίνειν τε γάρ μοι λόγον ἀγαθὸς ἐφαίνετο καὶ τὴν ἐν οἷς γράφει ῥητορικὴν οἶς λαλῶν ἔτρεχε παρεδήλου. καὶ μὴν τῷ τε σὲ φιλεῖν ἐχαρίζετό μοι τῷ τε χαίρειν οἷς τε σὲ περὶ ἐμοῦ λέγειν ἤγγελλεν οἷς τε ἤκουεν ἐμοῦ περὶ σοῦ. τὸ δ’ αὖ χάριεν ἔν τε τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ τῷ φθέγματι καὶ τοῖς σχήμασι καὶ ὅλως οὐδὲν ὃ μὴ τοιοῦτον ἦν. τοιοῦτον ἡμῖν μετὰ τῆς φύσεως ἀπειργάσω τὸν συγγενῆ τοῖς παρ’ ἐκείνης τὰ σὰ προσθείς. ἐργάσαιο δὴ καὶ παῖδας τῷ συγγενεῖ παρα- πλησίους.