I offer you a more illustrious and straightforward subject: the qualities of Mausolus and the rightful love of Artemisia are more noble themes than the inhumanity of Bucephalus or the frivolity of Helen. Your eloquence will not have to conceal crimes. All the subterfuges that rhetoric teaches to impose lies and make them plausible will be of no use. Without borrowing anything from the sophists, just write as an orator, philosopher, and historian at once. Eloquence, this rare privilege granted to men by the gods as a ray of their divinity, should only be used to protect innocence or to eternalize integrity. Those who have elevated Persuasion to the rank of a goddess did not intend to subject her to men's whims. They undoubtedly knew that eloquence is a heavenly gift that should never be profaned. The power it holds to excite or soothe the most violent passions, to move the hardest hearts, to persuade the most defiant, to compel the most stubborn to bend to our will, and to prompt us to oppose ourselves by abandoning our own beliefs to follow those of others – all these advantages were not given to us for unjust or illusory use. On the contrary, it is she that the gods chose to show the world the beauty of morals so as to conquer new territories daily. Thanks to her, men who possess eloquence achieve immortality by immortalizing others. Despite the passing of time and life's vicissitudes, she preserves the memory of noble deeds. Despite the fall of kingdoms and empires, she perpetuates the memory of kings and emperors, and even when their ashes no longer lie in their tombs, when their palaces are in ruins, when their most famous cities are deserted, when their statues are toppled and their kingdoms renamed, she continues to show the earth a picture of their values. Yes, centuries after their disappearance, they still live among mankind, they still have friends and subjects, their advice guides our life, we emulate their good qualities, we laud them anew. Envying no longer tarnishes their fame we bestow upon them all the praises they deserve, and so great is the veneration for them that we only visit the places they occupied with a sort of trepidation. And if some old ruins of their buildings endure, we respect them for what Time has not, we look upon them with delight, and prefer them to the magnificence of the modern era; even painters adorn their canvases with these prestigious ruins to perpetuate their memory.

After this, Isocrates, do not be surprised if I ardently desire that your eloquence make an apologetic of my dear husband. I am entirely conscious of the esteem it enjoys throughout Greece and I anticipate with certainty that it will be recognized in the centuries to come. All the writings bearing the name of Isocrates or Theopompus will be revered by time, fortune, and all mankind. They will traverse all nations and all ages without suffering affronts and they will enjoy the same reputation as those they described. It will be a common practice to include them in every library and to only read them with a certain awe. And the more your art will be noble, the more ours will be honored by it.