Letter 336: Noble products of your teaching!

To Aresius. (358) Noble indeed are your nurslings, and the gift you have sent us is not measured by the gold which you say the festival brought me in abundance, although that sum was small while the poor are many; for to take from those who are not wealthy I consider equal to robbing a dead man. But let it be abundant, even as much as the river gave to the king of the Lydians, and, if you wish, finer than the gold of the Colophonian; yet what is it, so great as the pupils of Hierius, who are now your associates? For he planted in them the power to receive formidable discourses, while you have implanted in them [...]. There has come to me, moreover, from you a second gift as well, not a gifted young man, but a good man, one who often makes mention of you, and who indeed makes mention of you for the better, and who rejoices more if someone praises you than if anyone praises that very man himself. Do you recognize the man from what has been said, or must something be added? I mean, then, a worthy person, most pleasant to be with, one who knows how to speak, who loves those who know, who acquires many friends as quickly as possible. At this even the most sluggish man would cry out: Leontius! When he is present I utter something more than my custom, becoming better at speaking through his eagerness for the hearing of it. And he, fleeing the crowd and the marketplace and affairs, would resort to me and sit beside me, gladdening me with his praises; but whether he was delighted by the things he heard, he himself will say. This is the man I have called a gift, whom I would have prayed to have among us rather than where he is, did I not honor your interests as much as these of my own.

Ἀρεσίῳ. (358) Γενναῖά γέ σου τὰ θρέμματα, καὶ δῶρον ἡμῖν ἀπέσταλ- κἀς οὐ κατὰ χρυσόν, ὃν φῄς μοι πολὺν ἐνηνοχέναι τὴν ἑορ- τήν, καίτοι μικρὸς μὲν ἐκεῖνος, πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ πένητες· παρὰ δὲ τῶν οὐ πλουτούντων λαμβάνειν ἴσον ἡγοῦμαι τῷ τεθνεῶτα συλᾶν. ἀλλ’ ἔστω πολὺς καὶ ὅσον ὁ ποταμὸς ἐδίδου τῷ Λυδῶν βασιλεῖ, καί, εἰ βούλει γε, τοῦ Κολοφωνίου καλλίων, ἀλλὰ τί τοσοῦτον, ὅσον οἱ παῖδες Ἱερίου, σοὶ δὲ ὁμιληταί; ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐφύτευσε δεινοὺς δέξασθαι λόγους, σὒ α δὲ τῶν ἐνέθηκας. ἥκει μέντοι μοι παρ’ ὑμῶν καὶ δεύτερόν δῶ- ρον , οὐ νέος εὐφυής, ἀλλ’ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός, σοῦ τε πολλάκις μεμνημένος, καὶ μεμνημένος γε ἐπ’ ἀμείνοσι καὶ πλέον, εἴ σέ τις ἐπαινοίη, χαίρων ἢ εἴ τις αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον. ἆρα εὑρίσκεις τὸν ἄνδρα τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἢ προσθεῖναι δεῖ; λέγω δή τινα χρηστόν, ἥδιστον συνεῖναι λέγειν ἐπιστάμενον, τῶν ἐπιστα- μένων ἐρῶντα, πολλοὺς ὅτι τάχιστα κτώμενον φίλους. ἐπὶ τούτοις κἂν ὁ νωθρότατος βοήσαι· Λεόντιος. οὗ παρόντος ἐγὼ πλέον τι τοῦ εἰωθότος φθέγγομαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκείνου πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐπιθυμίας ἀμείνων εἰπεῖν γιγνόμενος. ὁ δὲ φεύ- γων τὸν ὄχλον καὶ ἀγορὰν καὶ πράγματα παρ’ ἐμὲ ἐφοίτα καὶ παρεκάθητό μοι τοῖς μὲν ἐπαίνοις εὐφραίνων, εἰ δὲ οἶς ἤκουσε τερπόμενος, αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ. τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα κέκληκα δῶρον. ὂν ηὐξάμην ἂν παρ’ ἡμῖν εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ οὗπέρ ἐστιν, μὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν ὅσαπερ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ταύτην ἐτίμων.