Letter 601: You sent that letter as a refutation — to show that I had given you too grand a title by calling you first among Greeks.

To Demetrius. (~357 AD) You sent that letter as a refutation — to show that I had given you too grand a title by calling you first among Greeks. But the letter arrived bearing brilliant testimony that nothing else could have been said but what I said. If the admirable Demetrius had spent a very long time considering how to present himself as the pinnacle of the Greeks, he could have found no better method than writing as he did: the arguments so dense, the diction exactly what a letter desires, and there is nowhere that beauty is not present. So now more than before I declare you supreme — and if you try to refute me again, be assured, you'll argue my case for me once more. As for the "student" and "companion in learning" — these are the titles you apply to yourself in relation to my writings — they're charming, but they're accusations against me for not putting you on equal footing by sharing my own work in return. So that you may be not only skilled in speaking but also just: send me some of your own writing, and make me your student.

Δημητρίῳ. (357) Σὺ μὲν ἐπ’ ἐλέγχῳ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔπεμψας, ὡς ἄρα μείζω σοι τῶν ὄντων ἔδωκα πρῶτον Ἑλλήνων εἰπών· ἡ δὲ λαμπρὰν ἧκε φέρουσα μαρτυρίαν, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλο τι χρῆν ἢ τοῦθ’ ὅπερ εἶπον εἰπεῖν. εἰ γὰρ δὴ πάνυ πολὺν ἐσκόπει χρόνον ὁ καλὸς Δημήτριος, πῶς ἂν αὑτὸν δείξειεν Ἑλλήνων κεφάλαιον, οὐκ ἂν ἄμεινον ἐξεῦρεν ἢ τοιαῦτα γράφων· οὕτω τά τε ἐνθυμήματα πυκνὰ καὶ λέξις ἣν ἐπιστολὴ ποθεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπου τὸ κάλλος οὐκ ἔστιν· ὥστε νῦν πλέον ἢ πρό- τερον ὡς εἴης ἄκρος λέγω, κἂν πάλιν ἐπιχειρῇς ἐλέγχειν, εὖ ἴσθι, συναγορεύσεις πάλιν. ὁ δὲ φοιτητὴς καὶ ὁ συνου- σιαστής, ταυτὶ γὰρ σαυτὸν ὀνομάζεις τῷ τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις, χαρίεντα μέν, κατηγορήματα δὲ τοῦ μὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐν ἴσῃ τάξει ποιοῦντος ἀπὸ τοῦ μεταδοῦναι λόγων. ἵν’ οὖν πρὸς τῷ δεινὸς εἰπεῖν εἴης καὶ δίκαιος, πέμπε τῶν σαυτοῦ καὶ ποίει καὶ ἐμὲ σὸν φοιτητὴν.