Well, perhaps people in Egypt do not know you,
who received you when, after those marvellous performances of yours in Syria, you went into exile for
the reasons which I have mentioned, pursued by the
clothiers, from whom you had bought costly garments
and in that way obtained your expense-money for the
journey. But Alexandria knows you to be guilty of
offences just as bad, and should not have been ranked
second to Antioch. No, your wantonness there was
more open and your licentiousness more insane, your


 

reputation for these things was greater, and your
head was uncloaked under all circumstances. Cf. Petronius, 7: operui caput. 
 
There is only one person who would have believed
you if you denied having done anything of the sort,
and would have come to your assistance—your latest
employer, one of the first gentlemen of Rome. The
name itself you will allow me to withhold, especially
in addressing people who all know whom I mean.
As to all the liberties taken by you while you were
with him that he tolerated, why should I speak of
them? But when he found you in the company of
his young cup-bearer Oenopion,—what do you think?
Would he have believed you? Not unless he was
completely blind. No, he made his opinion evident by
driving you out of his house at once, and indeed conducting a lustration, they say, after your departure.
 
And certainly Greece as well as Italy is completely
filled with-your doings, and your reputation for them,
and I wish you joy of your fame! . Consequently, to
those who marvel at what you are now doing in
Ephesus, I say (and it is true as can be) that they
would not wonder if they knew your early performances. Yet you have learned something new here
having to do with women.