Apparently, you have despatched this young man to me before seeing Firminus; had you done so, your letters would not have failed to mention him.  What is Firminus now doing or intending to do?  Is he still anxious to be married?  Or is all that over now?  Are the claims of the senate heavy on him?  Is he obliged to stay where he is?  Is there any hope of his taking to study again ?  Let him send me an answer, and I trust it may be satisfactory.  If it be a distressing one, at least it will relieve him from seeing me at his door.  And if Firminus had been now at Athens, what would your senators have done?  Would they have sent the Salaminia The allusion is to the “Salaminia,” one of the two sacred or state vessels of the Athenian government.  The “Paralus” and the “Salaminia” were both Triremes, the latter being called also “Delia” and “Theoris,” because it was used to convey the θεωροὶ to Delos.  State criminals were conveyed by them. after him?  You see that it is only by your fellow-countrymen that I am wronged.  Yet I shall never cease to love and praise the Cappadocians.  I should like them to be better disposed to me, but, if they continue to act as they do, I shall bear it.  Firminus was four months with me, and was not a day idle.  You will know how much he has acquired, and perhaps will not complain.  As to his being able to come here again, what ally can I call in?  If your senators are right-minded, as men of education ought to be, they will honour me in the second case, since they grieved me in the first.