Under any ordinary circumstances I should have lacked courage to intrude upon your excellency, for I know how to gauge my own importance and to recognise dignities.  But now that I have seen a friend in a distressing position at having been summoned before you, I have ventured to give him this letter.  I hope that by using it, as a kind of propitiatory symbol, he may meet with merciful consideration.  Truly, although I am of no account, moderation itself may be able to conciliate the most merciful of prefects, and to win pardon for me.  Thus if my friend has done no wrong, he may be saved by the mere force of truth; if he has erred, he may be forgiven through my entreaty.