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Therefore I commission you, oh my Libanius, to compose a panegyric on me.

Ah, what an honour!

You must lay special stress on the benefits for which the citizens of Antioch owe me gratitude. I hope you will produce an oration that shall do honour both to the orator and to his subject. This task, my Libanius, shall be my gift to you. I know of nothing more fitting to offer to a man like you.

Oh, my crowned friend, what a transcendent favour!

And now to the fencing-hall. Then, my friends, we will walk through the streets, to give these insolent townsfolk a profitable example of sobriety in dress and simplicity in manners.

Through the streets, sire? In this midday heat

Pray, sire, let me be excused; I feel extremely unwell

I too, most gracious lord! All this morning I have been struggling against a feeling of nausea