Letter 183: This was the reward of our homecoming: to meet old classmates, to exchange stories from the old days, and through...

To Stratonianus. (359/60) This was the reward of our homecoming: to meet old classmates, to exchange stories from the old days, and through memory to feel as though we were back in the midst of those experiences. I have had this pleasure with the excellent Theodotus, and I count these days among my festivals. My affection for the man only grew when I learned that he is fond of your household. In fact, his first words to me were questions about your son. He would not leave until he had tested the young man, challenging him to wrestle with some passages of Homer. The boy rose to it without a moment's hesitation. Theodotus will tell you the rest himself, and he will neither willingly nor unwillingly deceive you -- he honors the truth and is steeped in rhetoric.

Στρατωνιανῷ. (359/60) Οὗτος ἡμῖν τῆς οἴκαδε ἐπανόδου καρπὸς ἐντυχεῖν λαιοῖς συμφοιτηταῖς καί τι τῶν ἀρχαίων εἰπεῖν τε πρὸς αὐ- τοὺς καὶ παρ’ ἐκείνων ἀκοῦσαι δόξαι τε ἐπ’ αὐτῶν εἶναι τῶν ἔργων τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν γεγενημένων. γέγονε δή μοι τοῦτο Λαὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄριστον Θεόδοτον καὶ τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς γέγραμμαι, καὶ προσέθηκά γε τῷ τὸν ἄνδρα φι- λεῖν, ὅτι τὴν σὴν οὗτος οἰκίαν φιλεῖ. τῶν γοῦν πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτῷ προοίμιον τὰ περὶ τοῦ σοῦ παιδὸς ἐρωτήματα καὶ οὐ πρότερόν γε ἀπῆρε πρὶν διεκωδώνισε τὸν νέον κελεύσας ἔπε- σιν Ὁμήρου προσπαλαῖσαί τισιν. ὁ δὲ οὐδὲν διατρίψας ἧκε, τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ, πάντως δὲ οὔθ’ ἑκὼν οὔτε ἄκων ἐζ- απατήσει τιμῶν τε τἀληθὲς καὶ γέμων ῥητορικῆς.