You ask, my boy, how you can get to be a public
speaker, and be held to personify the sublime and
glorious name of sophist; life, you say, is not worth
living, unless when you speak you can clothe
yourself in such a mantle of eloquence that you
will be irresistible and invincible, that you will be
admired and stared at by everyone, counting among
the Greeks as a highly desirable treat for their ears.
Consequently, you wish to find out what the roads
are that lead to this goal. Come, I have no desire to
be churlish, lad, especially when a mere youngster who
craves what is noblest, not knowing how to come by
it, draws near and asks, as you do now, for advice—
a sacred matter. So listen; and in so far as it lies
in my power, you may have great confidence that
soon you will be an able hand at discerning what
requires to be said and expressing it in words, Like Pericles (Thuc. 2, 60).
Certainly the object of your quest is not trivial,
nor one that calls for little effort, but rather one
for which it is worth while to work hard, to scant
your sleep, and to put up with anything whatsoever.