Letter 744: When you dine with Miccalus, do not waste the dinner hour on jokes and laughter.

To Acacius (362) Whenever you dine with Miccalus, do not waste the time of the dinner on jests and the laughter that comes from them, but let it become an instruction in how one must rule. And you, for your part, teach, and let him learn. Your reward will be that Miccalus enjoys a good reputation. This man, then, will display his teacher well in Thrace; but as for you, hold to the same resolve, for my sake, regarding the son of Xanthippus toward the house of Maximus. And I would have said much by way of exhortation, had I not known better that Miccalus will do this thing than that the writer of a letter [will persuade him to].

Ἀκακίῳ (362) Ὅταν τῷ Μικκάλῳ συνδειπνῇς, μὴ παραναλώσῃς τὸν τοῦ δείπνου χρόνον εἰς σκώμματα κοὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τούτων γέλωτα, ἀλλὰ γενέσθω τοῦ πῶς δεῖ ἄρχειν διδαχή. καὶ σὺ μὶν παίδευε, μανθανέτω δὲ ἐκεῖνος. μισθὸς δὲ ἔσται σοι τὸ τὸν Μίκκαλον εὐδοκιμεῖν. οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἐν Θρᾴκη δείξει τὸν διδάσκαλον καλῶς, σὺ δέ μοι γνώμης τῆς αὐτῆς ἔχου κατὰ τὸν Ξαν- θίππου παῖδα πρὸς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Μαξίμου. καὶ πολλὰ ἂν εἶπον εἰς παράκλησιν, εἰ μὴ βέλτιον ᾔδειν τοῦτο ποιήσοντα Μίκκαλον τοῦ γράφοντος ἐν ἐπιστολῇ.