Letter 394: You are generous in your letter.

To Akakios. (355 AD) You are generous in your letter. What you wish to find in me, you write about as though it were already there. If someone praises me as a man who knows how to work hard, perhaps he is not lying. But anyone who thinks me a gifted composer of speeches should know that he is. Your letter, though — I loved both its length and the fact that it was beautiful rather than merely long. Your skill is on display, too, in the minds of your students: not many have arrived here in such good form.

Ἀκακίῳ. (355) Χρηστὸς εἰ τοῖς γράμμασιν. ἃ γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι ἐθέ- λεις, περὶ τούτων ὡς ἐνόντων γράφεις. ἐμὲ δὲ εἰ μέν τις ὡς ἐπιστάμενον πονεῖν ἐπαινεῖ, τάχα οὐ ψεύδεται· λόγων δὲ ποι- ητὴν ὅστις οἴεται δεξιόν, ἴστω ὅτι ψεύδεται. τῆς δὲ ἐπι- στολῆς σου καὶ τοῦ μήκους ἠράσθημεν καὶ ὡς οὐ μακροτέρα μᾶλλον ἢ καλλίων. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν νέων ψυχαῖς ἡ σὴ τέχνη· ὡς οὐ πολλοὶ παρ’ ἡμᾶς ὧδε ἔχοντες τάξεως ἦλθον.