Letter 817: I knew both things well: that you would remember our shared request, and that you would set to work — being noble...

Both things I knew well: both that you would be mindful of our common request, and that you would set your hand to the task, being noble yourself and bearing in mind both the sort of men you come from and the place from which you come. And so you have added honor to honor, joining to the deeds done there on our behalf the letters dispatched to us. I declare, then, that you will do many such things, making use of the diviner's art of the orators. And this art consists not in looking to omens, or sacrificing lambs, or attending to oracular utterances, but in conjecturing well, which sets such men close to Amphiaraus [the legendary seer]. I, therefore, calling to mind how pleasantly you recounted to me the story of the image which taught you that your forefather had ruled over us — for you said that that man used to sacrifice to the Calliope [Muse] who holds us — from those words, then, and from the pleasure of them, I believe that you will say many things and do many things, some of them preserving the city and others increasing it. And in return for these things you go away possessing that which sufficed for the Romans: a good reputation, many praises, and that those who rule after this should pray not to fall short of your achievements.