1You are acting admirably — for I make enquiries — and keep it up, in that you commend your justice to the provincials with great courtesy; 1the chief part of which is to embrace all the most honourable men, and so to be loved by the lesser folk that at the same time you are esteemed by the leading men. 2But many, while they fear that they may seem to grant too much to the influence of the powerful, earn a reputation for awkwardness and even for spite. 3From this fault you have kept far away, I know, but I cannot restrain myself from praising you as if I were advising you, because you keep such a balance that you preserve the distinctions of rank and standing; 3for if these are confused, disordered and mixed together, nothing is more unequal than equality itself.
3Farewell.