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for the future. But if, as you write, the letter was badly expressed, you may be sure I never wrote it. Just as Aristarchus^[1] says that a line to which he objects is not Homer's, so you (I will have my little joke) must never suppose that what is badly expressed was written by me. Farewell, and in your censorship, if by this time you are censor, and I hope you are, let your thoughts dwell much upon your ancestor.^[2]

¹ First I shall congratulate you—for that is what the sequence of events demands—and then I shall turn to my own affairs. I do indeed congratulate you heartily on the result of the trial for bribery and corruption, and not so much on the fact of your acquittal, as to which nobody was in any doubt, but on this, that the better you are as a citizen, the more distinguished as a man, the more chivalrous as a friend, the richer you are in the graces of courage and energy, the more astonishing is it that not even in the secrecy of the ballot was there found hidden away any such ill-will as could venture to attack you—a transaction not characteristic of these days, nor of our modern men and manners. It is long since I have been so much surprised at anything.

² As regards myself, just assume for a moment the part I have to play, and imagine yourself in my place; if you have no difficulty in hitting upon the right thing to say, why, then consider my hesitancy unpardonable.