Letter 351: I have the son I was looking for — your son — and one well suited to receive what he has come for.

To Parnasios. (358 AD) I have the son I was looking for — your son — and one well suited to receive what he has come for. When I tested the young man and put his natural ability to the proof, I found him quick to seize upon the paths of rhetoric. I said to Achillios — a man from Ancyra who has fulfilled his duties to his homeland and is here now for his only son — I said to him: "Parnasios will be the father of a fine orator." The things you reminded us of, going through those school days and the speeches at Ancyra — I was already telling them to my son before I had even read your letter. He said that what he had heard was engraved in his memory. Such is my remembrance of those who drank from the same bowl [fellow students], especially Galatians, who always get something extra from me. So you are sending your family from home to home, and you need not urge me to attend to your affairs — I should be the one prompting you to look after your own.

Παρνασίῳ. (358) Ὅν ἐζήτουν ἔχω παῖδα σὸν καὶ παῖδά γε τοιοῦτον, ἐπι- τήδειον τοῦτο λαβεῖν ἐφ’ ὅπερ ἥκει. ὡς γὰρ διεκωδώνισα τὸν νεανίσκον καὶ προσῆγον βάσανον τῇ φύσει, ταχεῖαν εὕρισκον ἁρπάσαι λόγων ὁδούς. καὶ πρὸς Ἀχίλλιον — ὁ δὲ ἀνὴρ ἐξ Ἀγκύρας ὢν τὰ μὲν εἰκότα τῇ πατρίδι πεπλήρωκεν, υἱεῖ δὲ τῇδε πάρεσαν, ὃν ἔχει μόνον — πρὸς δὴ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ἴφη ὅτι Παρνάσιος ἡμῖν ἀγαθοῦ ῥήτορος ἔσται πατὴρ. ἃ δὲ ἀνεμίμνησκες ἡμᾶς μουσεῖά τε ἐκεῖνα διεξ- ιὼν καὶ τοὺς ἐν Ἀγκύρᾳ λόγους, οὔπω τοῖς γράμμασιν ὁμιλῶν ἔλεγον πρὸς τὸν υἱόν. ὁ δὲ ἔφασκεν ἅπερ ἤκουσεν ἐγγεγράφθαι. τοσαύτη παρ’ ἐμοὶ μνήμη τῶν ἐκ ταὐτοῦ κρατῆρος π πεπωκςοτων ἄλλως τε καὶ Γαλατῶν, οἷς ἀεί τι παρ’ ἐμοῦ πλέον, ὥστ’ οἴκοθεν οἴκαδε τοὺς σαυτοῦ πέμπεις καὶ οὐ σὲ δεῖ μᾶλλον ἐμὲ παρακαλεῖν εἰς τὰ σὰ ἢ παρ’ ἐμοῦ σὲ κινεῖ- σθαι τῶν σαυτοῦ φροντίζειν.