Libanius.
Has wisdom departed the city?
Julian.
Or is on the point of departing; for are not you also bound for the Piraeus?
Libanius.
I, my brother? What should I want at the Piraeus?
Julian.
Our Libanius, then, is the only teacher who does not know that a ship has just arrived from Ephesus.
Libanius.
Why, my friend, what have I to do with that ship?
Julian.
It is loaded to the water's edge with embryo philosophers
Libanius.
[Scornfully.] They come from Ephesus!
Julian.
Is not gold equally weighty whencesoever it may come?
Libanius.
Gold? Ha-ha! The golden ones Maximus keeps to himself; he does not let them go. What sort of scholars is Ephesus wont to send us? Shop-*keepers' sons, the first-born of mechanics. Gold say you, my Julian? I call it lack of gold. But