Academic Exercise on the Abstinence of the Early Christians from Reading Profane Books

...and merits placed beyond our praise. Moreover, those BENEFITS which you have both bestowed and daily bestow upon the cultivators of the liberal arts, we individually admire and collectively celebrate. That which has befallen me—me, I say, clinging to the lowest roots of Pindus—the highest favor has befallen; I regard and proclaim it with a pious and reverent mind. For I understand it to have been brought about by the providence of the Divine Power that, though pressed by the dire yoke of poverty, I should be aided and sustained by YOUR most munificent hand, O GREAT PATRON OF THE MUSES. Therefore, MOST EXALTED COUNT, you will not wonder if, as Clytie turns toward the sun, so we YOUR foster-sons turn obediently toward YOU, wherever you may be. You are worthy of being honored by us in your absence no differently than if pre-