To Araxios. (356/57)
Louppion announced that he is bringing me a letter from you — he has not delivered it yet, but will. For now we rejoice in the expectation; later, in the thing itself.
I marvel at what Fortune has planned for you, but I marvel no less at your character. She constantly advances your fortunes, while you keep your loyalty to friends on firm ground — those you loved before your rise, you love still now that you have risen. Most men, when they become great, throw off their old acquaintances like worn-out clothes.
Gymnasios, having praised you alongside us in word, now shows his admiration in deed. For though he could, if he wished, practice his craft here with us — where, as the poet says, "tongues fall like winter snowflakes" [Homer, Iliad 3.222] — he would rather earn a modest living under your governance than surpass Kinyras elsewhere.
What draws him back to you is partly his longing for a city that is, by the gods, beautiful, great, and free from the troubles and tears so common elsewhere. But he is drawn more by your governorship, since people have already abandoned the city itself under other governors, fleeing as from Athens under the Thirty Tyrants. The greatest sign of lawful rule is that many stream toward a place; of its opposite, that they flee.
So Gymnasios running from Syria to Araxios is the greatest tribute to you. I wish I could do the same, but cannot — you know the constraints binding those chained to teaching.
Louppion announced that he is bringing me a letter from you — he has not delivered it yet, but will. For now we rejoice in the expectation; later, in the thing itself.
I marvel at what Fortune has planned for you, but I marvel no less at your character. She constantly advances your fortunes, while you keep your loyalty to friends on firm ground — those you loved before your rise, you love still now that you have risen. Most men, when they become great, throw off their old acquaintances like worn-out clothes.
Gymnasios, having praised you alongside us in word, now shows his admiration in deed. For though he could, if he wished, practice his craft here with us — where, as the poet says, "tongues fall like winter snowflakes" [Homer, Iliad 3.222] — he would rather earn a modest living under your governance than surpass Kinyras elsewhere.
What draws him back to you is partly his longing for a city that is, by the gods, beautiful, great, and free from the troubles and tears so common elsewhere. But he is drawn more by your governorship, since people have already abandoned the city itself under other governors, fleeing as from Athens under the Thirty Tyrants. The greatest sign of lawful rule is that many stream toward a place; of its opposite, that they flee.
So Gymnasios running from Syria to Araxios is the greatest tribute to you. I wish I could do the same, but cannot — you know the constraints binding those chained to teaching.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.