Resultados25 letters/passages
libanius · c. 338 · score 0.02
… lt, we will not forget who holds ultimate authority, nor that the power of such imperial letters depends on your own decision to enforce them or not.
libanius · c. 389 · score 0.02
To Antipater. (362/63) You seem to want letters from a scoundrel — whether I have forgotten a friend through length of time or suffered this very thing from some good fortune. And I wonder why you did not count it a gain to be rid of someone afflicted with such faults. As for me, I have my share of the common good fort …
libanius · c. 348 · score 0.02
We fear this may cost them their standing, and we ask you to preserve their status even in their absence. They say that your word is law to Musonius, and indeed it is an old law that the prefect decides such matters for those who hold the post that man now holds. Confirm, then, so fine a reputation through what I now r …
libanius · c. 327 · score 0.02
To Priscianus. (359/60) You asked me whether I expect you to master your responsibilities. I do. Next you wanted to know whether I predict your current performance will earn you a good reputation among the powerful. There are grounds for hope: what you are doing does not go unnoticed, and admiration follows every repor …
libanius · c. 381 · score 0.02
… the defendant look the prosecutor in the eye. Before, the sheer grandeur of the imperial office made me hesitate to write. Now the beauty of the emperor's own letters doubles my fear. For even if everything else is on our side, we lack the light that blazes in his writing. More than anyone I know, the man has blended p …
libanius · c. 356 · score 0.02
You have reached the rank your good sense was always going to bring you -- a good sense that is both genuine and not lost on the emperor's attention. You were already well-disposed toward me before, and now you might reasonably add affection to goodwill, on account of our family connection. As for the ambassadors, I wo …
libanius · c. 390 · score 0.01
To the Emperor Julian. (363 AD) I was at first displeased with Alexander's administration, I confess. That the most disreputable among us should be his concern — things that previously were not the business of distinguished men — I considered an insult, not the work of a governor. I also thought the frequent monetary f …
libanius · c. 348 · score 0.01
… uly yours alone, sprung from no precedent. While others, the moment they attain imperial power, take on a love of money — some beginning to crave what they never desired before, others intensifying a passion already dwelling in them — you alone, upon entering into power, gave away your patrimony to your companions: a h …
libanius · c. 371 · score 0.01
To Emperor Julian. (~360 AD) I sent you the speech — a small thing about great matters. To make the speech greater, you are surely the master, if you grant what would make it so. By granting it, you will show that you consider me a craftsman of encomia. By not granting it, you will leave room for other suspicions.
libanius · c. 381 · score 0.01
When the good Menander arrived from your region and wanted to tell me everything that had happened from sky to earth, I redirected him to the subject of you, and we were both delighted. The reports were splendid -- entirely worthy of your family, your education, and the hopes placed in you. I could not possibly urge yo …
libanius · c. 366 · score 0.01
"What great thing?" I asked. Strategius then said: "When he was about to take leave of the emperor, after many fine exchanges, he added: 'Your Majesty, no one's rank will shield them from punishment for wrongdoing. Whether it is a judge or a military commander who breaks the law, I will not tolerate neglect.'" He said …
libanius · c. 339 · score 0.01
To Olympius. (358) Your sons will receive every just treatment from us -- first, on the very ground of justice and the obligation so to act for anyone who is not wicked, and second...
libanius · c. 315 · score 0.01
When you were governing Palestine, you didn't neglect to write. Now that you govern many provinces, you've forgotten how. When you were far away, you remembered your friends; now that you're nearby, you forget them. What will you become, then, when you've gained still more power and can see your acquaintances face to f …
libanius · c. 342 · score 0.01
To Apolinarius and Gemellus. (361?) Even now I consider you to be doing nothing other than learning -- and learning the greatest thing among men: how to govern. For this teaches...
libanius · c. 341 · score 0.01
To Eutherius. (357-358) I would not beg you to do well by Heraclides -- I command you. For you seem to me to prefer commands to pleas. The reason? You know how to love no less than how to govern. He would have won some good from you even without a letter, if he had simply stood before you and done what he usually does. …
libanius · c. 385 · score 0.01
To the Emperor Julian. (362 AD) If this is the product of a sluggish tongue, what would you be if you sharpened it? But in your mouth dwell springs of eloquence too powerful to need any tributary. We, on the other hand, if not watered daily, have no choice but silence. You seek to receive my speech without an advocate …
libanius · c. 363 · score 0.01
That Alexander was appointed to the government at first, I confess, gave me some concern, as the principal persons among us were dissatisfied. I thought it dishonourable, injurious, and unbecoming a prince; and that repeated fines would rather weaken than improve the city. But now the good effects of this severity are …
libanius · c. 385 · score 0.01
To Bacchius. (362 AD) Tend to the sacred rites, my dear Bacchius — with abundant sacrifices, precision in the mysteries, and the restoration of what has fallen. You must show piety toward the gods, gratify the emperor, and make your homeland more beautiful. But do grant favors too, even as you guard your zeal. The Grac …
libanius · c. 333 · score 0.01
To Domnio. (360) A resolution has won out here: to transplant your fine institution to this place -- the study of law. Seeking the best teacher, I find that man is you, but thinking it impious to uproot an unwilling man, I leave you master of your own decision -- desiring to have you, but not deigning to drag you. Tell …
libanius · c. 365 · score 0.01
To Spectatus. Three things need to happen through you: one for a kinsman, one for an orator, and one for a rhetorician. My cousin needs the emperor's approval to confirm the liturgy he has been called to. Sabinus needs a letter of appointment conferring a more distinguished rank, so that the man who prevails in eloquen …
libanius · c. 347 · score 0.01
To Strategios. (358 AD) Even this counts as a great gift from you: that you remembered those who made a request, sought out the letter, chose to give, and made clear that you were unable. For such are your remedies for your subjects — either you grant what is asked, or when circumstances prevent it, your distress at be …
libanius · c. 329 · score 0.01
To Andronicus. (358-361) The soldiers serving under Modestus have done me many favors. In return for all of them, they ask only one -- one that I could grant through you. Consider whether it would look right for me to be willing to receive favors but unable to return them. The favor is this: do not be harsh to Leontius …
libanius · c. 331 · score 0.01
To Andronicus, a general. (360) The admirable Mares was both my fellow student and my teacher -- for having grown alongside me, he rose to that rank. With these two claims on me, he has the right to command and I am bound to serve. He is concerned about Zeno, who belongs to the prefect's staff and now comes to you. Zen …
libanius · c. 356 · score 0.01
There is no need to tell you about the ambassadors -- you know them both. One you met when he was passing through your territory; the other, when he traveled as far as your city. But I would add this: you have no small claim on them. Each has a son studying with me, and each son gives cause for high hopes.
libanius · c. 314 · score 0.01
Unless you were well apprised how long ago my friendship with the excellent Macedonius was contracted, and for what reasons it has been since improved, of these I would first apprise you; but knowing as you do its foundation, you will not wonder that I, who would decline no danger for my friends, should devote to his s …