Letter 647
Libanius→Δομνίωνι|libanius
To Domnion. (361)
Look — you have drawn even Greece to yourself, and along with the young you have persuaded practically even old men to rush to Phoenicia. This Hilarinos formerly desired to receive something of my teaching, but prevented by fortune he comes to share in yours.
You must treat him as I would have, had he attended my lectures. I speak not of goodwill — he would say he finds that everywhere — but of ensuring he learns much in little time. For those who come late to learning and endure mockery for it deserve this reward from their teachers: generous instruction and an eagerness that speeds their mastery of the art.
Δομνίωνι. (361)
Ἴδου, καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πρὸς σαυτὸν κεκίνηκας καὶ μετὰ
τῶν νέων σχεδόν τι καὶ γέροντας εἰς Φοινίκην ἀναπέπεικας
τρέχειν. Ἱλαρῖνος δὲ οὑτοσὶ πρότερον μὲν ἐπεθύμει τῶν ἐμῶν
τι λαβεῖν, κωλυθεὶς δὲ τῇ τύχη τῶν σῶν ἔρχεται μετασχήσων.
δεῖ δή σε τοιοῦτον περὶ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι, οἷος ἂν ἦν ἐγώ,
τῶν ἐμῶν εἰ μετεῖχε διατριβῶν. λέγω δὲ οὐ περὶ τῆς εὐνοίας,
ᾗ πανταχοῦ φαίη χρώμενος, ἀλλ’ ὅπως πολλὰ ἐν οὐ πολλῷ
μάθοι χρόνῳ. τοῖς γὰρ ὀψὲ πρὸς τὰς μαθήσεις ἐρχομένοις καὶ
σκώμματα ὑπομένουσι τοῦτ’ εἶναι προσήκει παρὰ τῶν διδασκά-
λων γέρας, ἀθρόαν μετάδοσιν καὶ προθυμίαν τάχος ἐμποιοῦ-
σαν τῇ τέχνῃ.
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To Domnion. (361)
Look — you have drawn even Greece to yourself, and along with the young you have persuaded practically even old men to rush to Phoenicia. This Hilarinos formerly desired to receive something of my teaching, but prevented by fortune he comes to share in yours.
You must treat him as I would have, had he attended my lectures. I speak not of goodwill — he would say he finds that everywhere — but of ensuring he learns much in little time. For those who come late to learning and endure mockery for it deserve this reward from their teachers: generous instruction and an eagerness that speeds their mastery of the art.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.