To Adamantius. (356 AD)
If this man arriving from Cyprus had not stood in your way, surely another would have come from Euboea or Scyros. I do not mean that you lied this time, but that even without this excuse, you would not have lacked something to blame.
And yet you love me more than Telemachus's father loved Ithaca [Odysseus]. Fine — I will not fight you about the affection. But that laziness, which I have seen in abundance in you, will not let you sail even on a raft, let alone step beyond the gates. All those labors, all those speeches, that tongue trained to race — all of this will benefit you someday. Better to put it that way.
Do you really think loving me is enough for your livelihood? That it is utter absurdity to love another but not yourself — you do not see this?
Come now, you who know how to speak but refuse to — choose to speak! There are courts aplenty in many places, some greater, some lesser. If you desire the greater ones, come here, make yourself great, and gladden us. This way you will also spur your relatives on, nearby, by both deed and word.
If this man arriving from Cyprus had not stood in your way, surely another would have come from Euboea or Scyros. I do not mean that you lied this time, but that even without this excuse, you would not have lacked something to blame.
And yet you love me more than Telemachus's father loved Ithaca [Odysseus]. Fine — I will not fight you about the affection. But that laziness, which I have seen in abundance in you, will not let you sail even on a raft, let alone step beyond the gates. All those labors, all those speeches, that tongue trained to race — all of this will benefit you someday. Better to put it that way.
Do you really think loving me is enough for your livelihood? That it is utter absurdity to love another but not yourself — you do not see this?
Come now, you who know how to speak but refuse to — choose to speak! There are courts aplenty in many places, some greater, some lesser. If you desire the greater ones, come here, make yourself great, and gladden us. This way you will also spur your relatives on, nearby, by both deed and word.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.