Letter 775: You should have been receiving such letters from others on such matters, but you fled the rank of teachers and...
Κέλσῳ. (362)
Τοιαύτας ἴδει σε παρ’ ἄλλων ἐπιστολὰς ὑπὲρ τοιούτων
δέχεσθαι, σὺ δ’ ἀποδρὰς τὴν τῶν παιδευτῶν τάξιν εἰς τὴν
τῶν ἀρχόντων εἰσῆλθες.
εἶτ’ ἐκεῖνο μὲν δὺν ἐπιστήμῃ
πράττεις, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἡμεῖς, εἴ τις ἐκεῖσε ἦγεν· εἰ δ’ ἐνταῦθα
ἐτύγχανες ὤν, κἀνταῦθα ἂν ἐκράτεις. οὕτως εὐτράπελόν τι
χρῆμα τὴν σὴν φύσιν ὁ θεὸς ἐτεκτήνατο. καὶ μόνος ὧν ἴσμεν
οὐχ ὅτι ῥᾳθυμεῖς, ἀλλ’ ὅτι μὴ δάκνεις, ἐγκαλῇ.
σὲ δὲ μη-
δὲν μεταβαλλέτω μηδὲ λυπείτω μᾶλλον ἀνὴρ μεθύων ἢ Ὅμη-
ρος ἐπαινῶν εὐφραινέτω καὶ μετὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ πάντες Κίλι-
κες καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων Κιλίκων Ἀντικλῆς ὁ ῥήτωρ, οὗ τὴν
ψῆφον ἰσχυροτέραν νομιστέον ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ἠπείρων.
σὲ
μὲν οὕτω δεῖ φρονεῖν, ὁ δὲ νέος οὐδὲν ἐλαττόνων ἢ σὺ πρό-
τερον τεύξεται.
Related Letters
Right from the starting line you showed yourself worthy of our hopes.
Look — the elder of Justinianus's two sons is now my relation by marriage.
When you had fallen into all those Abydene misfortunes, I grieved.
What does much experience, and experience of good do for men? It teaches kindness, and inclines them to those who entreat them. There is no such education in pity as the previous reception of goodness.
A poet, a companion of the Muses — to whom else was I going to send him but to a friend of the Muses?