Libanius→Albanius, former student|c. 359 AD|libanius
From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch
To: Albanius, former student
Date: ~359 AD
Context: A proud teacher's letter to a student who has vindicated his training -- urging him never to stop speaking.
Now you have truly repaid me -- not in gold and silver, the kind of payment most people bring and most people enjoy, but in the very thing I abandoned my inheritance for: reputation.
You've given me this by showing that I'm not just a wrestler but a good trainer. You know how people who don't dare criticize the strength of my teaching try to bite at the other thing [i.e., claiming his students don't perform well]. But you've silenced them with your own voice.
Let the practice runs come thick and fast. Choose whatever path in life you think suits you, but everywhere you go, believe that speaking is your business too. No career is disgraced by rhetoric. And consider that your father would want this as well -- that he should have his share of the pleasure, even from beneath the earth.
Our current governor was raised in Hermes's domain [i.e., he's an educated man] and when he hears speakers, he's reminded of his own days and confesses that this is the only pleasure he can't resist. A wise man would take advantage of the opportunity.
To Albanius (359/60)
Now you have truly repaid me my wages — not gold and silver, those things that the many bring and that delight the many, but that for whose sake I even renounced my patrimony. And that is glory.
This you have given me by showing that I am not merely a wrestler myself, but also a good trainer. For you know how those who dare not fault your strength try instead to sting on that other point — but you reduced them to silence with your own voice.
So let the course be run often. Choose whatever path in life you think advantageous, but believe that eloquence belongs to you everywhere. No way of life is dishonored by rhetoric. And consider that your father too asks this of you — that he not be deprived of this pleasure, even now that he is beneath the earth.
Our governor, for his part, was raised in the house of Hermes and is reminded of his own studies by those who plead before him, and he confesses that this is the one pleasure to which he yields. It would be the mark of a sensible man, then, to make use of the present opportunity.
Context:A proud teacher's letter to a student who has vindicated his training -- urging him never to stop speaking.
Now you have truly repaid me -- not in gold and silver, the kind of payment most people bring and most people enjoy, but in the very thing I abandoned my inheritance for: reputation.
You've given me this by showing that I'm not just a wrestler but a good trainer. You know how people who don't dare criticize the strength of my teaching try to bite at the other thing [i.e., claiming his students don't perform well]. But you've silenced them with your own voice.
Let the practice runs come thick and fast. Choose whatever path in life you think suits you, but everywhere you go, believe that speaking is your business too. No career is disgraced by rhetoric. And consider that your father would want this as well -- that he should have his share of the pleasure, even from beneath the earth.
Our current governor was raised in Hermes's domain [i.e., he's an educated man] and when he hears speakers, he's reminded of his own days and confesses that this is the only pleasure he can't resist. A wise man would take advantage of the opportunity.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.