Letter 537: Will you flee from this letter too, and throw it away when you see the name of the sender -- just as you were happy...

To Eumathios. (356/57) Will you then run away from me, and, when you find both the letter and the name of the sender, throw it aside, just as the moment you first caught sight of us you gladly fled as you went on your way? But the reason for which you did this I would not tell to anyone else, since I love you, even though it would bring me a certain affectation of reluctance. You accuse me, as I hear, on the ground that, in associating with the young men, I am stretched to the utmost toward the young, but neglect everyone else. Yet I would have thought it right, if this were not done in this way, for you to call me a worthless fellow; for the teacher who sits in the [school], if, after gathering his chorus around him, he turns aside to something else, let him know that he owes a penalty. But the man whom you found severe in the schoolroom, this same man you would have found elsewhere knowing how to laugh as well. But, I suppose, calling me wild and harsh, you yourself, being no gentle one, did this very thing: both to revile me for what does not deserve it, and to depart before greeting me. But you too have children, and, imitating their father, they cling to letters, and perhaps they will soon make their way to us. Consider, then, which is more profitable for you: that the teacher of those children should be charged with such things, or that he should play about instead of taking thought.

Εὐμαθίῳ. (356/57) Ἄρα μου φεύξῃ καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν καὶ τοὔνομα τοῦ 15 πέμψαντος εὑρὼν ἀπορρίψεις, ὡς ἡμᾶς γε τὴν πρώτην ἰδὼν ἡδέως ἔφυγες προιών; τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν, ὑφ’ ἧς τοῦτο ἐποίησας, οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι πρὸς ἄλλον, ἐπειδή σε φιλῶ, καίτοι τινὰ ἅκ- κισμὸν ἂν ἐμοὶ φέροι. κατηγορεῖς Γε, ὡς ἀκούω, τὸ συνόντα με τοῖς νέοις πρὸς τοὺς νέους ὡς μάλιστα τετάσθαι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἀμελεῖν. ἐγὼ δέ σε ἠξίουν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο οὕτως ἐπράτ- τετο, πονηρὸν <ἐμὲ> καλεῖ ὁ γάρ τοι παιδευτὴς ἐν τῷ καθήμενος, εἰ περιστησάμενος τὸν χορὸν ἐπ’ ἄλλο τρέποιτο, δίκην ὀφείλων ἴστω. σὺ δὲ ὃν στρυφνὸν εὗρες ἐν τῷ δι- δασκαλείῳ, τοῦτον εὗρες ἂν ἑτέρωθι καὶ γελᾶν εἰδότα. ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, καλῶν ἄγριον ἐμὲ καὶ χαλεπὸν αὐτὸς οὐχ ἡμέρου τοῦτο ἐποίησας τὸ κακίσαι τε ἐφ’ οἷς οὐκ ἄξιον καὶ πρὶν ἀσπάσασθαι ἀπελθεῖν. ἀλλὰ καὶ παῖδές εἰσί σοι καὶ τὸν πατέρα μιμού- μενοι λόγων ἔχονται καὶ τάχα δὴ βαδιοῦνται παρ’ ἡμᾶς. ἐν- θυμοῦ δή, πότερόν σοι λυσιτελεῖ τὸ τοιαῦτα ἐγκαλεῖσθαι τὸν ἐκείνων διδάσκαλον ἢ τὸ παίζειν ἀντὶ τοῦ φροντίζειν.