Letter 117: You lied, but the lie made your son better -- and there's room for that kind of lie even in Plato's ideal city [a...

To Acacius. (359/60) You did indeed lie, but through that lie your boy has become better, and we see that for a lie of such a kind there is a place even in Plato's city. For my part, I had always longed to see Titianus, but that he was among the lesser sort in his father's company and in that man's discourses I was never persuaded; for not even Machaon, had it been he, was inferior in his father's company. And if I were to say that the young man's soul had become golden, having received so many beauties, I should be honoring the gold itself and, if you wish, the Colophonian [Homer] besides. I consider, too, what your gathering must have been in summer, when you had a breeze, since in such stifling heat so many things were brought together, things which, when you recounted them, I did not disbelieve, and which I found to be finer still in the bringing forth of those discourses which Titianus, for his part, brings forth nobly, though there will be not a few who call them poor out of ignorance, and more, I think, out of envy.

To Acacius (359/60) You deceived me, it is true — but your son has been made the better by that deception, and for such a deception we see there is a place even in Plato's city. For my part, I have always longed to see Titianus, but I was never persuaded that he was in any worse condition while with his father and his father's teaching — nor would I have been, even if Machaon himself had been at his father's side. If I were to say that this young man's soul has become golden, having received so many beauties, I would be honoring gold itself — and, if you like, the gold of Colophon at that. I find myself wondering what the harvest would have been for you in summer, when you had favorable breezes, given that in such stifling heat so much has been gathered. What you described to me I did not doubt, and I found it surpassed still more in the offspring of his speeches — speeches that Titianus brings forth nobly, though there will be no few who call them poor out of ignorance, and more still, I suspect, out of envy.

Ἀκακίῳ. (359/60) Ἐψεύσω μέν, ἀλλ’ ὁ παῖς σοι τῷ ψεύδει γεγένηται βελ- τίων, τῷ δὲ τοιούτῳ ψεύδει κἀν τῇ Πλάτωνος πόλει χώραν ὁρῶμεν οὖσαν. ἐγὼ δὲ Τιτιανὸν ἀεὶ μὲν ἰδεῖν ἐπόθουν, εἷναι δὲ ἐν φαυλοτέροις ὄντα παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις οὐδεπώποτε ἐπείσθην, οὐδὲ γάρ, εἰ. Μαχάων ἦν παρὰ τῷ πατρί. χρυσῆν δὲ εἰ φαίην γεγονέναι τοῦ νεανίσκου τὴν ψυχὴν τοσαῦτα κάλλη δεξαμένην, τιμήσαιμ’ ἂν τὸν χρυ- σὸν αὐτὸν καί, εἰ βούλει γε, τὸν Κολοφώνιον. ἐνθυμοῦ- μαι δέ, τίς ἂν ἦν ἡ συλλογὴ τοῦ θέρους ὑμῖν αὔρας ἔχον- τος, ὁπότε ἐν τοσούτῳ πνίγει τοσαῦτα ἤθροισται, ἃ σοῦ τε κα- ταλέγοντος οὐκ ἠπίστουν εὗρόν τε κάλλιον ἐν τῷ τόκῳ τῶν λόγων, οὓς Τιτιανὸς μὲν τίκτει γενναίους, ἔσονται δὲ οἱ κα- λέσοντες κακοὺς οὐκ ὀλίγοι μὲν ἀμαθίᾳ, πλείους δέ, οἶμαι, φθόνῳ.