Letter 17: Aeneas sends a student to Dionysius's city of learning.

Long ago Pelion seemed the common school of heroes; now that honor belongs to your city and to the Muses. Parents trust their sons to you, sending them there either to learn eloquence or to seem already to know it. No wonder: the city is ancient and full of old mythology. Many noble things are sung of it, including that Calliope, admiring your city, sat down there after leaving Helicon and persuaded her sisters to live with her. Hermes could hardly refuse to play with his sisters, and Apollo, being a musical god, loves this city more than Parnassus. These things wake old men and summon the young. For these reasons I have good hope for the young man's success, especially since he has already been initiated into our own good things before setting out, as at Athens people are initiated into the lesser mysteries before the greater. Receive the young man kindly. Judge his nature from his present desire, for he sails the sea and crosses much mainland for it, though his body is not very strong. Let him have something more because of the letter, too. This letter must be bold and not blush because it is visiting you for the first time. Receive it lovingly and speak pleasantly to it, and then it will often travel to you.