To Theodorus. (356 AD)
It is time for you to call the Nile a small river, since you also call yourself small in eloquence. We will believe you in everything else, but in this alone we will not. For you, perhaps it is fine not to praise yourself — but how is it fine for us not to recognize all that is in you?
Are you not that Theodorus, the one who purchased many speeches with many labors at Athens, who was brilliant before outsiders thanks to what you brought back from there, and who made the oration you recited a goad to us?
I am amazed you did not see that by claiming you know nothing great, while writing letters like these, you would be caught lying — your very words refuting your words.
Thus, even if you very much wanted to, you could not say anything that was not fine. As for the young men on whose behalf you appeal to us — we are fond of them, because they themselves appeal to us through their ambitions.
It is time for you to call the Nile a small river, since you also call yourself small in eloquence. We will believe you in everything else, but in this alone we will not. For you, perhaps it is fine not to praise yourself — but how is it fine for us not to recognize all that is in you?
Are you not that Theodorus, the one who purchased many speeches with many labors at Athens, who was brilliant before outsiders thanks to what you brought back from there, and who made the oration you recited a goad to us?
I am amazed you did not see that by claiming you know nothing great, while writing letters like these, you would be caught lying — your very words refuting your words.
Thus, even if you very much wanted to, you could not say anything that was not fine. As for the young men on whose behalf you appeal to us — we are fond of them, because they themselves appeal to us through their ambitions.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.