Non dubito fore plerosque, **Attice, qui hoc genus scripturae leve et non satis dignum summorum virorum personis iudicent, cum relatum legent, quis musicam docuerit Epaminondam, aut in eius virtutibus commemorari, saltasse eum commode scienterque tibiis cantasse. Sed ii erunt fere, qui expertes litterarum Graecarum nihil rectum, nisi quod ipsorum moribus conveniat, putabunt. Hi si didicerint non eadem omnibus esse honesta atque turpia, sed omnia maiorum institutis iudicari, non admirabuntur nos in Graiorum virtutibus exponendis mores eorum secutos. Neque enim Cimoni fuit turpe, Atheniensium summo uiro, sororem germanam habere in matrimonio, quippe cum cives eius eodem uterentur instituto. At id quidem nostris moribus nefas habetur. […] Contra ea pleraque nostris moribus sunt decora, quae apud illos turpia putantur. Quem enim Romanorum pudet uxorem ducere in convivium? Aut cuius non mater familias primum locum tenet aedium atque in celebritate versatur? Quod multo fit aliter in Graecia. Nam neque in convivium adhibetur nisi propinquorum, neque sedet nisi in interiore parte aedium, quae gynaeconitis appellatur, quo nemo accedit nisi propinqua cognatione coniunctus. […]

I have no doubt that most of them, ** Atticus, who judge this kind of writing to be light and not sufficiently worthy of the persons of the greatest men, when they read the report, who taught Epaminondas music, or are mentioned in his virtues, that he danced with ease and sang skillfully to the pipes, But there will generally be those who, having experienced Greek literature, will think that nothing is right except that which suits their manners. If they had learned that what is honorable and what is dishonorable is not the same for all, but that everything is judged by the institutions of their ancestors, they would not be surprised that we followed their manners in expounding the virtues of Graius. For it was not shameful for Cimon, the greatest man of the Athenians, to have a German sister in marriage, since his citizens used the same system. But this indeed is considered wrong in our manners. [...] On the contrary, most of our manners are dignified, which with them are considered base. For which of the Romans is ashamed to marry into a feast? Or whose mother does not hold the first place in the family and is engaged in celebrity? This is done very differently in Greece. For he is not used at a banquet except by relatives, nor does he sit except in the inner part of the building, which is called the gynaeconitis, to which no one goes unless he is connected by close relations. […]