1If ever our city flourished in liberal studies, it flourishes most of all now. 2There are many famous examples; 2one would suffice, the philosopher Euphrates. 2I came to know him thoroughly and intimately in Syria, when I was serving in the army as a very young man, and I worked hard to be loved by him, although there was no need to work at it. 2For he is approachable and open, and full of the humanity that he teaches. 3And I wish I had fulfilled the hope he then conceived of me as fully as he has added greatly to his own virtues! 3or else I now admire them more because I understand them more.
4And yet even now I do not understand them sufficiently; 4for just as no one but an artist can judge a painter, a sculptor or a modeller, so no one but a wise man can perceive a wise man. 5Yet as far as I am given to discern, many things in Euphrates stand out and shine so that they catch and move even the moderately learned. 5He argues subtly, weightily and elegantly, and often reproduces that well-known loftiness and breadth of Plato. 5His talk is copious and varied, above all charming, and such as to lead and drive on even those who resist. 6In addition there is his tall figure, his handsome face, his long hair, his great white beard; 6and though these may be thought matters of chance and of no account, they nevertheless win him very great veneration.
7There is no roughness in his dress, no gloominess, but much austerity; 7you would feel awe at meeting him, not dread. 7The holiness of his life is supreme; 7his courtesy equal to it: he attacks vices, not people, and he does not chastise those who go astray but corrects them. 7You would follow his admonitions attentively and hanging on his words, and would long to be persuaded even after he has persuaded you. 8Then again he has three children, two of them sons, whom he has brought up with the greatest care. 8His father-in-law is Pompeius Julianus, great and famous both in the rest of his life and in this one thing above all, that though himself the foremost man of his province, among the most exalted matches he chose a son-in-law who was foremost not in office but in wisdom.
9But why do I say more about a man whose company I am not allowed to enjoy? 9Is it to be the more tormented that I am not allowed? 9For I am distracted by my office, as important as it is irksome: I sit on the tribunal, I sign petitions, I draw up accounts, I write very many but most unliterary letters. 10I sometimes (for when does even that happen!) 10complain to Euphrates about these occupations. 10He consoles me, and even asserts that this is a part of philosophy, and indeed the finest part: to conduct public business, to hear cases and judge them, to bring out and administer justice, and to put into practice what philosophers themselves teach.
11Yet on this one point he does not persuade me, that it is better to do these things than to spend whole days with him listening and learning. 11All the more do I urge you, who have the time, that when you next come to the city (and come sooner for this reason) you entrust yourself to him to be polished and refined. 12For I do not, as many do, begrudge others a good which I myself lack, but on the contrary: I feel a certain sense of pleasure if I see my friends enjoying in abundance what is denied to me. 12Farewell.