Letter 799: The young men have come to collect on your promises, and you — noble in all else and incapable of falsehood — will...

To Modestus. (363) The young men have come to claim your promises, and you, who are in every other respect noble, do not know how to lie. But I too, though absent, demand the promises. And surely the reverence that is seen in the eyes does not hold sway with you alone; rather, you are seen to be equally worthy of respect both when looked upon and when writing to your friends. Come then, treat these two as men skilled in pleading their case, and even if you advance to some other matter, bring these two as well, who will do the same thing again. And perhaps someone will see you as one who acts as patron and giver of praise to the contestants who serve as judges of the contest [...].

Μοδέστῳ. (363) Ἐπὶ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις ἥκουσιν οἱ νέοι, σὺ δὲ τῇ τε ἄλλῃ γενναῖος καὶ ψεύδεσθαι οὐκ εἰδώς. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὼν ἀπαιτῶ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις. πάντως δὲ τὸ αἰδὼς ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς οὐ παρὰ σοὶ κρατεῖ, ἀλλ’ ὁμοίως αἰδέσιμος ὁρώμενός τε καὶ ἐπιστέλλων φίλοις. ἄγε οὖν, ποίει τούτω δικὼν ἐπιστήμονε, κἂν ἐπ’ ἄλλο τι προβῇς, ἄγε καὶ τούτω ταὐτὸ δράσοντε πάλιν. ἴσως δέ τις ὄψεται τοὺς ἀγωνιστὰς ἀθλοθέτας σοῦ προξενοῦν. τος καὶ ἐπαινοῦντος