Letter 798: There is nothing strange in students being loved by their teachers, just as there is nothing strange in sons being...

To Apollinarius and Gemellus. (363) It is no wonder that pupils should be loved by their teachers, just as sons are by their fathers, especially when the pupils do not turn out badly toward the one who taught them. For indeed they do turn out badly, and have done so. And this I know better than others, having toiled much over many and suffered much at the hands of many. But you, at any rate, are good men, and you commend the way of the storks rather than that of the rams. Therefore I both counsel you and join my prayers with yours for the better course. And the best course, in the present circumstances, is to do the things you have resolved upon. I said this because I know that hesitation often stands in the way of what is advantageous. But your native city is great, and your household is of such a kind. There is danger, then, that you may be held back by these drugs.

Ἀπολιναρίῳ καὶ Γεμέλλῳ. (363) Οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν μαθητὰς ὑπὸ διδασκάλων φιλεῖσθαι ὥσπερ οὐδ’ υἱεῖς ὑπὸ πατέρων, ἄλλως θ’ ὅταν οἱ μαθηταὶ μὴ κακοὶ περὶ τὸν παιδεύσαντα γένωνται. γίγνονται γὰρ δὴ καὶ κακοὶ καὶ γεγένηνταί γε. καὶ τοῦτο μᾶλλον ἑτέρων οἶδα πολλὰ μὲν περὶ πολλοὺς καμών, πολλὰ δὲ ὑπὸ πολλῶν παθών. ἀλλ’ ὑμεῖς γε χρηστοὶ καὶ τὸ τῶν πελαργῶν μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ τῶν κριῶν ἐπαινοῦντες. διόπερ ὑμῖν καὶ συμβούλομαι καὶ συνεύχομαι τὰ βελτίω. βέλτιστον δὲ ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἃ δια- νενόησθε πρᾶξαι. τοῦτο δὲ εἶπον εἰδὼς τὸν ὄκνον πολλά- κὶς ἐμποδίζοντα τὸ συμφέρον. ὑμῖν δὲ ἥ τε πατρὶς μεγάλη ὅ τε οἶκος τοιοῦτος. δέος οὖν μὴ τούτοις κατασχεθῆτε τοῖς φαρμάκοις.