Letter 229: You hardly seem to be away from us at all.

To Apollinarius and Gemellus. (360?) You do not at all seem to us to be away, for to write so skillfully is by no means the mark of those who are absent, but rather, as I would put it, of those who are present. And so I, although I was pleased that you wrote, was the more pleased that you are able to write in this way. Thinking that the eunuch who handed over the letter had come from you, since he claimed that he had remained here, I called him a scoundrel. But then at once I acquitted him of the charge, and laid it against you instead, when I learned that it was through being neglected by you that he had stayed. And yet, next to your natural gifts, this man is responsible for your having gained a fine reputation, since in place of a watchdog he was sufficient against those who are not good. But you, after you had reaped the man's services, cast him off when the time for repayment had come. But, my boys, for my sake attend to the tutor [paidagogos, the slave who escorts and trains a boy], either by summoning him to Cilicia or by sending him something from there. And let the man who carries this letter persuade you to despise money, over and above the things that have often been said by me [on the subject]; he by his outward appearance is enrolled among the soldiers, but by his deeds among the philosophers, having imitated Socrates in the midst of profits the noble Ammianus.

Ἀπολιναρίῳ καὶ Γεμέλλῳ. (360?) Οὐ μάλα ἡμῶν ἐοίκατε ἀπεῖναι, τὸ γὰρ οὕτω τεχνικῶς ἐπιστέλλειν οὐ πάντως ἐστὶν ἀπόντων, ἀλλ’, ὡς ἐμὲ λέγειν, συνόντων. ὥστ’ ἔγωγε ἡσθείς, ὅτι ἐγράψατε, πλέον ἥσθην, ὅτι οὕτως ἔχετε γράφειν. τὸν εὐνοῦχον δὲ παρ’ ὑμῶν ἥκειν ἡγούμενος, ὃς ἐδίδου τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ἐπειδὴ ἔφασκε τῇδε με- μενηκέναι, πονηρὸν ἐκάλουν. εἶτ’ εὐθὺς τὸν μὲν ἀπέλυον αἰ- τίας, ὑμῖν δὲ ἐνεκάλουν γνοὺς ὑφ’ ὑμῶν αὐτὸν ἀμεληθέντα μεῖναι. καίτοι τοῦ δόξαν ὑμᾶς κτήσασθαι καλὴν μετά γε τὰς φύσεις οὗτος αἴτιος ἀντὶ κυνὸς ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐκ ἀγαθοὺς ἀρ- κῶν. ὑμεῖς δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκκαρπωσάμενοι τοῦ καιροῦ τῶν ἀμοιβῶν ἥκοντος ἀπερρίψατε. ἀλλ’, ὦ παῖδες, ἐμοὶ θερα- πεύσατε τὸν παιδαγωγὸν ἢ καλέσαντες εἰς Κιλικίαν ἤ τι πέμ- ψαντες τῶν ἐκεῖθεν. πειθέτω δὲ ὑμᾶς χρημάτων καταφρονεῖν ἄνευ τῶν ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ πολλάκις εἰρημένων ὁ τὰ γράμματα φέρων, ὃς ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ σχήματος εἰς στρατιώτας, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ἔργων εἰς φιλοσόφους ἐγγέγραπται τὸν Σωκράτην ἐν μέσοις μιμησά- μενος κέρδεσιν, ὁ καλὸς Ἀμμιανός.