Letter 554: Do you still remember the dog and the old woman and those days when you used to invoke Socrates and everything about...

To Eugnomonius. (357) Do you still remember the dog and the little old woman, and how you used to invoke Socrates and all those famous men of Athens, or have you become too solemn for us, and is there no longer any account taken of the ancients? As for me, I congratulate you on your eloquence, and even more on the second matter; but as for the letter by which the emperor summoned the city to the festival, now that it has arrived, listen to what occurred to the people here concerning that letter. I came out of the schoolroom around midday, and some of those who had heard it, men who had an ear for fine writing, met me and said, "We have heard a letter of yours." "How," said I, "a letter of mine?" "Because, by Zeus," they said, "you produce such things." And they were praising both its beauty and the fact that no idle length was troubling that beauty. Now I considered this to bring some honor to me; but whether it brings some insult to you, look to that yourself. And as for Letoius, both help him yourself in whatever way you can, and call upon the others as well to assist him. For he is well-born, has had a share in learning, is distinguished by his public services, possesses good sense and a just disposition, and knows, besides receiving a favor, how to return one; and, what you above all long for, he is to us in place of a wall and bodyguards.

Εὐγνωμονίῳ. (357) Ἆρ᾿ ἔτι μέμνησαι τῆς κυνὸς καὶ τοῦ γραιδίου καὶ ἐκάλεις τὸν Σωκράτην καὶ πάντων δὴ τῶν Ἀθήνησιν ἐκεί- νων, ἢ σεμνὸς ἡμῖν γέγονας καὶ λόγος οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχαίων; ἐγὼ δὲ συγχαίρω μέν σοι τῆς γλώττης καὶ πλέον γε τοῦ δευτέρου· τῶν δὲ γραμμάτων, οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν πανή- γυριν ἐκάλει τὴν πόλιν, ἡκόντων ἃ παρέστη τοῖς τῇδε περὶ τῶν γραμμάτων, ἄκουσον. ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ διδασκαλείου περὶ μεσημβρίαν, τῶν δ’ ἀκουσάντων οἷς ἦν αἴσθησις λόγων ἐντυχόντες μοι σῆς ἔφασαν ἀκηκόαμεν ἐπιστολῆς. πῶς ἔφην ἐμῆς; ὅτι, νὴ Δία, τοιαύτας ἔφασαν ἐργάζῃ. καὶ τό τε κάλλος ἐπῄνουν καὶ τὸ μὴ μάταιον μῆκος ἐνοχλεῖν τῷ κάλλει. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν τιμήν τινα τοῦτο ἡγούμην ἔχειν, εἰ δὲ μὴ σοί τινα ὕβριν, αὐτὸς σκόπει. καὶ τὸν Λητόιον σύ τε ὅ τι ἔχεις ὠφέλει καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους συμπαρακάλει. καὶ γὰρ εὖ γεγονὼς καὶ μετειληφὼς λόγων καὶ λαμπρὸς ἐκ λειτουργιῶν καὶ νοῦν ἔχων καὶ φρόνημα δίκαιον καὶ χάριν πρὸς τῷ λα- βεῖν εἰδὼς ἀποδοῦναι καί, ὁ δὴ μάλιστα σὺ ποθεῖς, ἡμῖν ἀντὶ τείχους καὶ δορυφόρων.