Letter 446: Clematius struck us as far more admirable -- not because he picked up rhetoric in Rome, as he imagines, but because...

To Datianus. (355) Clematius appeared to us much more admirable not because he had acquired the art of rhetoric from Rome, as he supposes, but because, having reckoned all else a secondary matter, he made it his chief business to keep your mind in memory toward better things. For to hold in good repute, through fair words, those whom it is fitting to praise is itself a good thing for those who praise, just as, I think, to find fault is an evil for those who do this. And I consider that for the future too this conduct will be both a security for him and an advancement, since your hand is present everywhere, putting an end to what is difficult and providing what is better.

Δατιανῷ. (355) Πολὺ καλλίων ἡμῖν ἐφάνη Κλημάτιος οὐχὶ ῥητορικὴν ἀπὸ τῆς 'Pώμης, ὥσπερ οἴεται, προσλαβών, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τἄλλα πάρ- εργον ἡγησάμενος ἔργον ἔθετο τῆς σῆς διανοίας ἐπ’ ἀμείνοσι μεμνῆσθαι. τὸ γὰρ οὓς προσῆκεν ἐπαινεῖν δι’ εὐφημίας ἔχειν τῶν ἐπαινούντων ἀγαθόν, ὥσπερ, οἴμαι, τὸ ψέγειν τοῖς τοῦτο ποιοῦσι κακόν. ἡγοῦμαι δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἀσφάλειάν τε αὐτῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἐπίδοσιν ἔσεσθαι τῆς σῆς αὐτῷ χειρὸς πανταχοῦ παρούσης καὶ τά τε δυσχερῆ παυούσης καὶ τὰ βελ- τίω παρεχούσης