Letter 537: 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 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.

Εὐμαθίῳ. (356/57) Ἄρα μου φεύξῃ καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν καὶ τοὔνομα τοῦ 15 πέμψαντος εὑρὼν ἀπορρίψεις, ὡς ἡμᾶς γε τὴν πρώτην ἰδὼν ἡδέως ἔφυγες προιών; τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν, ὑφ’ ἧς τοῦτο ἐποίησας, οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι πρὸς ἄλλον, ἐπειδή σε φιλῶ, καίτοι τινὰ ἅκ- κισμὸν ἂν ἐμοὶ φέροι. κατηγορεῖς Γε, ὡς ἀκούω, τὸ συνόντα με τοῖς νέοις πρὸς τοὺς νέους ὡς μάλιστα τετάσθαι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἀμελεῖν. ἐγὼ δέ σε ἠξίουν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο οὕτως ἐπράτ- τετο, πονηρὸν <ἐμὲ> καλεῖ ὁ γάρ τοι παιδευτὴς ἐν τῷ καθήμενος, εἰ περιστησάμενος τὸν χορὸν ἐπ’ ἄλλο τρέποιτο, δίκην ὀφείλων ἴστω. σὺ δὲ ὃν στρυφνὸν εὗρες ἐν τῷ δι- δασκαλείῳ, τοῦτον εὗρες ἂν ἑτέρωθι καὶ γελᾶν εἰδότα. ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, καλῶν ἄγριον ἐμὲ καὶ χαλεπὸν αὐτὸς οὐχ ἡμέρου τοῦτο ἐποίησας τὸ κακίσαι τε ἐφ’ οἷς οὐκ ἄξιον καὶ πρὶν ἀσπάσασθαι ἀπελθεῖν. ἀλλὰ καὶ παῖδές εἰσί σοι καὶ τὸν πατέρα μιμού- μενοι λόγων ἔχονται καὶ τάχα δὴ βαδιοῦνται παρ’ ἡμᾶς. ἐν- θυμοῦ δή, πότερόν σοι λυσιτελεῖ τὸ τοιαῦτα ἐγκαλεῖσθαι τὸν ἐκείνων διδάσκαλον ἢ τὸ παίζειν ἀντὶ τοῦ φροντίζειν.