Libanius → Seleucus, friend and official
Tradução moderna em inglês
You seem to have forgotten the state of both my mind and my body if you actually expected to see me among the embassy's delegation. I am not the sort to rush off on such missions, and even if I desperately wanted to, I could not -- a man for whom simply getting from home to the marketplace is a labor.
As for the things you say I told my closest associates, none of that was said with an eye to reward. I was simply grieving for land and sea alike. But if some reward for my hatred was owed, it has been paid: the man who was destroying everything is gone, and we did not need to lift a blade against him.
There has been another reward too, and there are fresh ones every day. Whatever the emperor does for the common good, I receive my share of that. If he offers me something personal, I will gladly accept it; if he does not, I will not complain. For what more could anyone seek than to have the sacred harbors opened to mankind?
Texto latino / grego
Σελεύκῳ. (362) Εοικας ὅπως εἶχον καὶ γνώμης καὶ σώματος ἐπιλελῆσθαι, εἰ δὴ καὶ ἐν πρέσβεων ἀριθμῷ προσεδόκησας ὄψεσθαί με. ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε τῶν ἐπιθυμούντων ἐπὶ τοιούτοις τρέχειν οὔτ’ ἄν, εἰ καὶ σφόδρα ἐπεθύμουν, οἰός τ’ ἦν, ᾧ γε ἔργον εἰς ἀγορὰν οἴκοθεν ἐλθεῖν. ἃ δὲ διηγήσασθαι τοὺς γνωριμωτάτους ἔφης, οὐδὲν μὶν αὐτῶν ἔλεγον εἰς μισθὸν ὁρῶν, ἀλλ’ ᾤκτειρον γῆν καὶ θάλατταν. εἰ δ’ οὖν ἔδει μοι καὶ γενέσθαι μισθὸν τοῦ μίσους, γέγονεν· οἴχεται γὰρ ὁ πάντα φθείρων οὐδὲν ἡμῶν δεηθέντων ἐπ’ αὐτὸν σιδηρίου. γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος καὶ γίγνεταί γε καθ’ ἡμέραν. ἃ γὰρ εἰς κοινὴν εὐδαιμονίαν παρὰ τοῦ βοσιλέως πράττεται, τούτων ἔχω τὸ μέρος· ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ διδόντος δέξομαι καὶ μὴ διδόντος οὐ μὴ μέμψωμαι. τί γὰρ ἄν τις καὶ ζητοῖ μεῖζον τῶν ἱερῶν λιμένων ἀνθρώποις ἀνεῳγμένων;