Letter 596: Your daughter's son is everything a grandfather could wish for: a lover of learning, no lover of physical pleasures,...
To Hieracius. (357)
Your daughter's son is everything a grandfather could wish for: a lover of learning, no lover of physical pleasures, free from insolence, a friend of moderation, pleasing to me, devoted to his companions.
Knowing this about him, I could not keep silent. For I know how to censure young men who stray beyond decorum, and I know how to praise those who remain in good order.
Finding this Diophantus to be one of those who do what they should, I thought it unjust not to delight his grandfather's ears as well.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Ἱερακίῳ. (357)
Ὁ τῆς παιδός σου παῖς τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, οἷον εὔξαιτο ἂν
ὁ πάππος, λόγων ἐραστής, σωμάτων οὔτι ἐραστής, θράσους
ἀφεστηκώς, ἐπιεικείᾳ φίλος, ἀρέσκων ἐμοί, τοὺς ἑταίρους
ἐξημμένος.
ταῦτα αὐτῷ συνειδὼς σιγᾶν οὐκ εἶχον. ἐγὼ
γὰρ οἶδα μὲν κατηγορῆσαι νέων ἔξω κόσμου φερομένων, οἴδα
δὲ ἐπαινέσαι μένοντας έν τῷ τεταγμένῳ.
τὸν οὖν Διόφαν-
τον τοῦτον ἕνα τῶν ἃ χρὴ ποιούντων εὑρὼν ἡγησάμην ἄδι-
κον μὴ καὶ τῷ πάππῳ τὴν ἀκοὴν εὐφρᾶναι.
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