Letter 158: To the same person. (359/60)

LibaniusUnknown|c. 329 AD|Libanius
barbarian invasionillnessimperial politics

**To the Same Recipient** (359/60)

I expect the venture will prove profitable for these young men, because as they set out for the courts they had the good fortune to meet first with the man who has shone brightest in the courts. For if an athlete on his way to Pisa had chanced to encounter Heracles somewhere in the mountains — something like what we hear of Pan — it would have been clear that the crown would belong to no other.

That you will receive them kindly, I am confident. But to your goodwill, please add instruction in the ways of forensic practice. For let them learn not only what pertains to their education, but everything they possibly can, and let them carry from you letters of introduction to the leading men among the advocates. To be sure, it would not please them to owe their reputation to others, but to you, perhaps, they would submit even in this.

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