To Eumathius.
Will you flee from this letter too, and throw it away when you see the name of the sender -- just as you were happy to avoid me the first time you saw me, walking right past? The reason you did that, I will not tell anyone else, since I care about you, though it would provide me with some satisfaction to do so.
You complain, I hear, that when I am with my students I am entirely focused on them and neglect everyone else. Well, I would have thought that if I did anything different, you should call me a scoundrel. A teacher who takes his seat, gathers his students around him, and then turns his attention elsewhere -- let him know he owes a penalty.
The man you found stern in the classroom you would have found quite capable of laughter elsewhere. But by calling me savage and difficult, you yourself behaved not very gently -- criticizing me for something undeserving of criticism and leaving without so much as a greeting.
But you have sons, and following their father's example they are devoted to literature and will soon be coming to study with me. Consider, then, which serves you better: having their teacher reproached for being too serious, or for playing around instead of doing his job.
Will you flee from this letter too, and throw it away when you see the name of the sender -- just as you were happy to avoid me the first time you saw me, walking right past? The reason you did that, I will not tell anyone else, since I care about you, though it would provide me with some satisfaction to do so.
You complain, I hear, that when I am with my students I am entirely focused on them and neglect everyone else. Well, I would have thought that if I did anything different, you should call me a scoundrel. A teacher who takes his seat, gathers his students around him, and then turns his attention elsewhere -- let him know he owes a penalty.
The man you found stern in the classroom you would have found quite capable of laughter elsewhere. But by calling me savage and difficult, you yourself behaved not very gently -- criticizing me for something undeserving of criticism and leaving without so much as a greeting.
But you have sons, and following their father's example they are devoted to literature and will soon be coming to study with me. Consider, then, which serves you better: having their teacher reproached for being too serious, or for playing around instead of doing his job.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.