Letter 554: Do you still remember the dog and the old woman and those days when you used to invoke Socrates and everything about...

To Eugnemonius. Do you still remember the dog and the old woman and those days when you used to invoke Socrates and everything about old Athens? Or have you gone grand on us, and ancient memories count for nothing? I congratulate you on your eloquence -- and even more on the second prize [likely a public honor or appointment]. But listen to what happened here when the emperor's letter arrived inviting the city to a festival. I had come out of my classroom around midday. Some of the audience who had an ear for language met me and said: "We have been listening to a letter of yours." "How can it be mine?" I said. "Because, by Zeus," they replied, "that is the kind of thing you produce." They praised both its beauty and the fact that no pointless length spoiled it. I took this as a compliment to me. Whether it is an insult to you, judge for yourself. As for Letoius -- help him with whatever you can and rally others to do the same. He is wellborn, educated, distinguished by his public liturgies, sensible, justly proud, and skilled at repaying a favor once received. And above all -- the quality you most prize -- he has been a wall and a bodyguard to me.

Εὐγνωμονίῳ. (357) Ἆρ᾿ ἔτι μέμνησαι τῆς κυνὸς καὶ τοῦ γραιδίου καὶ ἐκάλεις τὸν Σωκράτην καὶ πάντων δὴ τῶν Ἀθήνησιν ἐκεί- νων, ἢ σεμνὸς ἡμῖν γέγονας καὶ λόγος οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχαίων; ἐγὼ δὲ συγχαίρω μέν σοι τῆς γλώττης καὶ πλέον γε τοῦ δευτέρου· τῶν δὲ γραμμάτων, οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν πανή- γυριν ἐκάλει τὴν πόλιν, ἡκόντων ἃ παρέστη τοῖς τῇδε περὶ τῶν γραμμάτων, ἄκουσον. ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ διδασκαλείου περὶ μεσημβρίαν, τῶν δ’ ἀκουσάντων οἷς ἦν αἴσθησις λόγων ἐντυχόντες μοι σῆς ἔφασαν ἀκηκόαμεν ἐπιστολῆς. πῶς ἔφην ἐμῆς; ὅτι, νὴ Δία, τοιαύτας ἔφασαν ἐργάζῃ. καὶ τό τε κάλλος ἐπῄνουν καὶ τὸ μὴ μάταιον μῆκος ἐνοχλεῖν τῷ κάλλει. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν τιμήν τινα τοῦτο ἡγούμην ἔχειν, εἰ δὲ μὴ σοί τινα ὕβριν, αὐτὸς σκόπει. καὶ τὸν Λητόιον σύ τε ὅ τι ἔχεις ὠφέλει καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους συμπαρακάλει. καὶ γὰρ εὖ γεγονὼς καὶ μετειληφὼς λόγων καὶ λαμπρὸς ἐκ λειτουργιῶν καὶ νοῦν ἔχων καὶ φρόνημα δίκαιον καὶ χάριν πρὸς τῷ λα- βεῖν εἰδὼς ἀποδοῦναι καί, ὁ δὴ μάλιστα σὺ ποθεῖς, ἡμῖν ἀντὶ τείχους καὶ δορυφόρων.