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meet it, I shall take you unprepared, and pit my view of the matter against yours, face to face, so that I may either bring you over to my way of thinking, or at any rate leave on record in your mind a duly attested declaration of my convictions, so that if ever you begin—I hope you never will—to be dissatisfied with your own decision, you may be able to recall mine. To put it shortly, however, you may take it from me that on your return you will find such a condition of affairs in general that you will more easily secure all political distinctions by means of the blessings bestowed upon you by nature, by your enthusiasm,[1] and by fortune, than by public spectacles; the ability to give them excites no admiration, for it is a sign of wealth, and not of worth; and there is nobody who is not now sick and tired of them.
2 But I am not acting as I declared I would; I am entering upon a reasoned explanation of my views; so I postpone all discussion of this until you arrive. Let me assure you that you are most eagerly awaited, and that such things are expected of you as are naturally to be expected of preeminence in merit and capacity; and if you are prepared, as you ought to be, to satisfy such anticipations, and I am sure it is so, why, then the shows[2] with which you are sure to delight us, your friends, the whole body of your fellow-citizens, and the state, will be in the highest degree varied and magnificent. But there is one thing which you will assuredly discover—that nobody in the world is dearer or more delightful to me than yourself.