Letter 306: The young man who carries this letter is one of my finest students.
To Honoratus. (361?)
The reason I urged you to write letters -- so that from writing you might arrive at writing well -- I now see bearing fruit. For you are already a fine...
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Ὁνωράτῳ (361?)
Ὅτου σε εἵνεκα ἐκίνουν, ὅπως ἐκ τοῦ γράφειν ἐπιστολὰς
εἰς τὸ καὶ καλῶς ἐπιστέλλειν ἀφίκοιο, τοῦθ’ ὁρῶ μοι χωροῦν.
ἤδη τε γὰρ εἶ καλὸς καὶ ἴσῃ κάλλιστος τοῦ γε εἰκότος νικῶ
τος. ἐξέστω γάρ μοι κατὰ τοὺς γεωργοὺς προειπεῖν, οἶ προ-
βήσεται τὸ φυτόν. ὄντων δὲ ἀξίων θαυμάσαι τῶν ὀνομάτων
ἡ κατὰ τὸ ἦθος ἀρετὴ παρῄει τὴν ἐν ἐκείνοις χάριν ὥσπερ
τινὰ χρυσὸν χρυσὸς ἀμείνων.
ἐγὼ δὲ χαίρω μὲν ὑπὸ σοῦ
τιμώμενος, βουλοίμην δ’ ἄν σε τῶν σαυτοῦ τὸ μέγιστον μήτ’
ἀγνοεῖν μήτε εἰδότα δεύτερον ἄγειν ἑτέρου. μέγιστον δὲ τῶν
σῶν ὁ πατήρ, καὶ μεθ’ ἡμῶν καὶ πρὸ ἡμῶν διεπλάττετό σοι
τὴν ψυχήν.
εἰ οὖν κόσμος μαθητῇ παιδευτὴς ἀγαθός, προ-
τέρου μεμνήσῃ τοῦ πατρὸς, οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶναι μαθητὴς ὁμο-
λογῶν οὐκ αἰσχύνομαι. καὶ σὺ μὲν μειδιάσεις, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ
σόν, τὸ πρᾶγμα δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως ἔχοι, τὸν θρόνον δὲ πείσω-
μεν μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν
ταυτὶ μὲν οὕτω δεδόχθω, τῶν δὲ πρὸς
ἡμᾶς ἐπιστολῶν ἐξαίρει τὰ δοκοῦντα μὲν θεραπείαν ἔχειν, λυ-
μαινόμενα δὲ τῷ κάλλει, ζητούμενα δὲ παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν.
ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε μὴ τῶν πολλῶν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ποιῶμεν, ἀλλὰ
πρὸς μὲν ἐκείνους τὸν ἐκείνων, ἐπειδήπερ ἀνάγκη, πρὸς δ’
ἡμᾶς τὸν ἡμέτερον φυλάττωμεν νόμον.
Related Letters
I know that you were going to receive Palladius kindly without any letter from me.
This Antiochus here is a man who barely survived.
Gaudentius shares with me the work of teaching the young.
This Auxentius is not technically my student, but he is far more devoted than many who are.
"Measure is best," someone said, and the saying became a dedication at Delphi.