Letter 306: The young man who carries this letter is one of my finest students.

To Honoratus [Roman official, addressed c. 361] The purpose for which I was urging you on, namely that from writing letters you might arrive at writing them well, this I see is proceeding for me as I wished. For already you are accomplished, and indeed you are the most accomplished of all, surpassing what one might reasonably expect. For let it be permitted to me, after the manner of the farmers, to foretell to what point the plant will advance. And although the words themselves were worthy of admiration, the excellence that lies in your character outdid the charm that resided in them, just as gold is better than some other gold. For my part, I rejoice at being honored by you, but I would wish that you neither be ignorant of the greatest of your own possessions, nor, while knowing it, rank it second to another. And the greatest of the things that are yours is your father, who, both together with us and before us, was molding your soul for you. If, then, a good teacher is an ornament to his pupil, you will remember your father first, whose own pupil I too, when I acknowledge that I am, am not ashamed. And you, indeed, will smile, that very smile of yours, but the matter could not be otherwise, and let us persuade the chair [the teacher's seat, i.e. my professorship] not to be indignant. Let these things, then, be so resolved; but from the letters you send to us cut away those things that seem to be a flattering attention, yet mar their beauty, things sought after by the many. Yet let us not make ourselves to be of the many, but toward those people let us observe their custom, since indeed it is necessary, while toward us let us keep our own law.

Ὁνωράτῳ (361?) Ὅτου σε εἵνεκα ἐκίνουν, ὅπως ἐκ τοῦ γράφειν ἐπιστολὰς εἰς τὸ καὶ καλῶς ἐπιστέλλειν ἀφίκοιο, τοῦθ’ ὁρῶ μοι χωροῦν. ἤδη τε γὰρ εἶ καλὸς καὶ ἴσῃ κάλλιστος τοῦ γε εἰκότος νικῶ τος. ἐξέστω γάρ μοι κατὰ τοὺς γεωργοὺς προειπεῖν, οἶ προ- βήσεται τὸ φυτόν. ὄντων δὲ ἀξίων θαυμάσαι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἡ κατὰ τὸ ἦθος ἀρετὴ παρῄει τὴν ἐν ἐκείνοις χάριν ὥσπερ τινὰ χρυσὸν χρυσὸς ἀμείνων. ἐγὼ δὲ χαίρω μὲν ὑπὸ σοῦ τιμώμενος, βουλοίμην δ’ ἄν σε τῶν σαυτοῦ τὸ μέγιστον μήτ’ ἀγνοεῖν μήτε εἰδότα δεύτερον ἄγειν ἑτέρου. μέγιστον δὲ τῶν σῶν ὁ πατήρ, καὶ μεθ’ ἡμῶν καὶ πρὸ ἡμῶν διεπλάττετό σοι τὴν ψυχήν. εἰ οὖν κόσμος μαθητῇ παιδευτὴς ἀγαθός, προ- τέρου μεμνήσῃ τοῦ πατρὸς, οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶναι μαθητὴς ὁμο- λογῶν οὐκ αἰσχύνομαι. καὶ σὺ μὲν μειδιάσεις, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ σόν, τὸ πρᾶγμα δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως ἔχοι, τὸν θρόνον δὲ πείσω- μεν μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν ταυτὶ μὲν οὕτω δεδόχθω, τῶν δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιστολῶν ἐξαίρει τὰ δοκοῦντα μὲν θεραπείαν ἔχειν, λυ- μαινόμενα δὲ τῷ κάλλει, ζητούμενα δὲ παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν. ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε μὴ τῶν πολλῶν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ποιῶμεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μὲν ἐκείνους τὸν ἐκείνων, ἐπειδήπερ ἀνάγκη, πρὸς δ’ ἡμᾶς τὸν ἡμέτερον φυλάττωμεν νόμον.