Libanius→Hyperechius, former student and landowner|libanius
To Hyperechius, former student and landowner. (362)
Having congratulated both you and your father -- him for his generosity toward you, you for pleasing your father enough that he handed over control of everything while still alive -- I find myself in a different position now. I can still praise you as before, but him no longer.
You, remembering my teachings and judging the matter correctly, are inclined to serve your homeland -- from which reputation, power, and above all the fulfillment of your duty to your own city would follow. But he is sending you to throw your wealth into the sea. If you will gain nothing great abroad proportionate to the expense, and will have no strength at home because your money is being spent elsewhere, how is your fortune not being destroyed by the very man who gave it to you?
Persuade him, then, not to imitate the cow in the proverb -- the one that kicks over the milk it has just given. For on top of the financial damage, you will also harm your city.
If instead you practiced civic life in the daily contests before the governors, you would become better than you are now, and the eloquence that is already praised would grow still greater. But if you do what your father wants, you will cut away no small part of your estate and spend the rest of your life in idleness and sleep.
To Hyperechius, former student and landowner. (362)
Having congratulated both you and your father -- him for his generosity toward you, you for pleasing your father enough that he handed over control of everything while still alive -- I find myself in a different position now. I can still praise you as before, but him no longer.
You, remembering my teachings and judging the matter correctly, are inclined to serve your homeland -- from which reputation, power, and above all the fulfillment of your duty to your own city would follow. But he is sending you to throw your wealth into the sea. If you will gain nothing great abroad proportionate to the expense, and will have no strength at home because your money is being spent elsewhere, how is your fortune not being destroyed by the very man who gave it to you?
Persuade him, then, not to imitate the cow in the proverb -- the one that kicks over the milk it has just given. For on top of the financial damage, you will also harm your city.
If instead you practiced civic life in the daily contests before the governors, you would become better than you are now, and the eloquence that is already praised would grow still greater. But if you do what your father wants, you will cut away no small part of your estate and spend the rest of your life in idleness and sleep.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.