quocirca, quia dignus es ut domus tuae celeberrimam disciplinam etiam procul positorum petat ambitus, sicut decet bonarum partium viros, benignitate responsi proci supplicis verecundiam munerare et, qui ita expetitus deberes illi expetere pollicendam, securus permitte promissam, quia sic te condicioni huic meritorum ratio praefecit, ut nec superstiti Optantio in liberos suos decuerit plus licere.
So since it is no more than you deserve if the aspirations even of total strangers should seek a place in a family so famous for its good government as yours is, please act as befits a statesman of the honest party, and reward the modest appeal of your suppliant suitor by the kindness of your answer. Had you yourself been so approached you would have been right in approaching her mother in turn and pressing for her approval of the match; but as it is, I ask you to sanction without hesitation an approval already given. Your kindness to the family has conferred upon you such a position of authority in the matter of this betrothal that even had Optantius been living, he would have had no right to exercise a fuller control over his own children.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book2.json