Sidonius greets his dear Petronius

• 1. Iohannes, a close friend of mine, is lost in an inextricable labyrinth of a complicated affair, and until you with your expertise or someone that has similar expertise (if that even exists) examines the merits of his papers, he does not know what he should reject and what he should choose. The nature of this bipartite legal dispute is so mixed up that in the statement of the facts he does not know at all which line of argumentation to support and which to oppose.

• 2. On his behalf I eagerly beg you to check his documents and to instruct him, if he demands rightfully, what he can obstruct in his defence and in what manner, and what he must refute. For I will not have to fear that the course of the process, if it has sprung from the source of your advice, has a chance of drying up through some diversionary manoeuvre of his opponents. Goodbye.