Letter 342: On my way to the school I ran into Julianus, who was urging Calykion toward the labors of rhetoric.

To Hierocles. (358) On my way to the school I came upon Julian urging Calycius on toward the labors undertaken for the sake of eloquence, which he said he was doing because he had been stirred to it by you through a letter. So I joined in the exhortations and lent my hand to the advising, from which I have never yet desisted. And I think we shall not be boiling a stone [laboring in vain]. For, hearing often that on account of his father's uprightness he is poor, and that he has one road to wealth, namely eloquence, he plainly both praises us and is persuaded, and has no great need to hear that he must acquire eloquence. You too, then, must not find fault with everything, but by now also rejoice with him, as at his eagerness; for this very thing is itself a remedy that fosters eagerness.

Ἱεροκλεῖ. (358) Πορευόμενος εἰς τὸ διδασκαλεῖον ἐνέτυχον Ἰουλιανῷ κινοῦντι Καλύκιον ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ λόγων πόνους, ὃ ποιεῖν ἔφασκεν ὑπὸ σοῦ κεκινημένος ἐξ ἐπιστολῆς. ἐκοινώνουν οὖν τῶν παρακλήσεων καὶ συνεφηπτόμην συμβουλῆς, ἠς οὐσεπώποιτε ἐπαυσάμην. οἶμαι δέ, οὐ λίθον ἕψομεν. ἀλλ’ ἀκούων πολ- λάκις ὡς διὰ δικαιοσύνηι πατρὸς πένης εἴη καὶ ὅτι μίαν ὁδὸν ἐπὶ πλοῦτον ἔχει τοὺς λόγους, δῆλός ἐστιν ἐπαινῶν τε ἡμᾶς καὶ πειθόμενος καὶ οὐ πάνυ δεόμενος ἀκούειν ὅτι λό- γους αὐτῷ κτητέον. δεῖ δὴ καὶ σὲ μὴ πάντα ἐπιτιμᾶν, ἀλλ’ ἤδη καὶ συγχαίρειν ὡς ἐπὶ προθυμίᾳ· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο φάρμακον εἰς προθυμίαν.