Resultados25 letters/passages
libanius · c. 342 · score 0.02
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. 334 · score 0.02
To Eusebius. (360) Let the wild beasts be preserved, let no one slaughter them, let someone provide the spectacle without that, and let the master not be lord of his own property. Such is the letter that has come from the prefect. And we, who used to admire the man for his other qualities, are astonished at this novelt …
libanius · c. 339 · score 0.02
[To the same.] (361?) Among the officers around you, Herodianus is now serving, though previously he fought. He is a man who does good, as he did harm before. I formerly...
libanius · c. 318 · score 0.02
To Modestus. (359) Domnus -- the man whose penalty you deferred by advising him to appeal to the emperor's mercy for relief -- has done so and has received that mercy. But he needs you to confirm it. So keep your own principle -- or, if you prefer, the principle of Zeus himself, which is that promises should be free of …
libanius · c. 333 · score 0.02
To Euphemius. (358) What is one to make of this? Is it folly, bad fortune, or the solution to a riddle? That famous Antoninus, who gave up his patrimony to those who claimed to be in need -- or rather gave up nothing to them, for there was nothing -- has been forced to take up the grain supply again. And you endured wr …
libanius · c. 341 · score 0.02
To Modestus. (359/360) My companions -- your rhetors -- the men I gave to you and you admired -- these very men who carry this letter are now the target of decrees by which certain people are trying to drag them away from your doors. And these are the same people I have repeatedly rescued from your justified anger. Or …
libanius · c. 332 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (360) Here is another matter that needs correction. No one in our city is like Asterius -- nor anywhere else, I suspect. The man has devoted extraordinary care to virtue, not because old age quenched his unruly passions, but because his nature led him toward self-control from childhood. He is therefore hel …
libanius · c. 329 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (359/60) A fine set of rewards awaits governors, it seems -- if they are to wear themselves out, neglect their own interests while tending to public affairs, and then receive in return insult, condemnation, disgrace, and danger. This is what has now engulfed Tryphonianus -- a man you never dishonored, a ma …
libanius · c. 335 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/359) I commend your war on thieves. By the same stroke you punish the wicked and encourage the honest, who can see that being just actually earns recognition. I congratulate Frontinus on the outcome of his audit: though he was examined in absentia, he won the more favorable verdict -- acquiring someth …
libanius · c. 323 · score 0.01
People who ask for a first favor think the very fact that it's their first request entitles them to it, invoking some proverb about the special claim of a first favor. But I actually think my position is stronger because I've received many favors from you before -- and am asking for one now. Here's my reasoning: if som …
libanius · c. 340 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (361?) You have long known how much I care about Dulcitius. For a long time now I have been making requests to you on his behalf, and you have granted them. Since we were asking for just things, you could not refuse -- and so you will not refuse now either, since what we ask now is equally just. He says he …
libanius · c. 359 · score 0.01
Well, this particular labor has ended well -- the helmsman's skill proved stronger than the wild winds. Now then, set right the city of Alexander [Alexandria] for us too, as it rushes toward ruin. Save its people, and give those of us with the ability to speak something grand to say about you. If only you had the power …
libanius · c. 318 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/359) I delight in this kind of slander. And if, after receiving still more letters, you again claim to have received none, I will delight in it even more. For your dishonesty is the dishonesty of a lover who denies having received what he has, out of sheer desire to receive more. Just as, if you had r …
libanius · c. 319 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (359) Every effort I make on your behalf is a pleasure to me. Even if the matter we are laboring over is small, the mere fact of laboring for you is its own reward. You, however, endure great toils for great causes -- bearing the fierce sun for so long, running to and fro, adding action to deliberation, an …
libanius · c. 332 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/59) May you complete this stoa of yours -- that broad, long, lofty colonnade, dear to Dionysus -- exactly as you envision it, and may it stand as long as the human race endures, preserving the name of the man who built it. But, my dear friend, let us not only consider how to build something grand. Let …
libanius · c. 323 · score 0.01
How much Eudaemon is worth to anyone who cares about Greek culture, how close a friend he is to us, and how much he rejoices in your successes -- you know all this and could tell it to anyone. And being the kind of man you are, it's obvious you'd be happy to do him a kindness. The thing itself will be easy for you when …
libanius · c. 328 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358-361) Those colts of mine, whom I have led from the meadows of the Muses and given to you -- some were summoned by you, others came uninvited. I congratulate the first group on the honor you have shown them, and the second on their own longing for you. For by running to you of their own accord, they sh …
libanius · c. 334 · score 0.01
To Andronicus. (360?) I thought the time of your governorship would be a time of good cheer for Theon's son -- given what I asked and what you promised. But perhaps he praises your predecessor; and if he does not say so openly, out of decency, he would be right to think it. Under that man everything was calm for him; u …
libanius · c. 318 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (359) I hear that the danger has reached its peak -- that bridges have been built for the Persian [Shapur II] and the crossing is imminent. Let this sharpen your vigilance, but keep panic far from your planning. For panic itself will destroy your ability to plan, since a troubled mind inevitably becomes bl …
libanius · c. 343 · score 0.01
To Themistius. (361?) You used to chafe at your education, thinking you were wasting your effort on a useless pursuit. But it turns out you were going to need those weapons after all...
libanius · c. 322 · score 0.01
May you continue doing what you do best -- confirming just decisions, saving cities, hating sycophants, and defending the wronged. As for us, the common report says that even public affairs have suffered, and if that is an exaggeration of the truth, what is certainly no lie is that the death of my uncle has destroyed o …
libanius · c. 336 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/359) The poets, I think, were right about Eros when they called him invincible [a reference to the famous Sophocles chorus in Antigone]. Just look at Strategius: a man deeply rooted here has now left behind wife, children, and everything else he loves, and is racing off to see you. He tries to conceal …
libanius · c. 324 · score 0.01
Don't worry -- you won't be deceived, and Eupeithius won't turn out to be a villain. I wrote this letter not to warn you to pay attention or to beg you to acquit a guilty man. Let me explain what I feel in cases like this. Whenever I see a sycophant fall upon a decent man like a flash flood, my soul aches. I sometimes …
libanius · c. 331 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/59) At first we had no way of knowing where exactly you were. That you were in the land between the two rivers -- the Tigris on one side, the Euphrates on the other [Mesopotamia] -- that much was clear. But where in that country, even the local cities could not say, thanks to an eagle [i.e. Modestus h …
libanius · c. 329 · score 0.01
To Modestus. Neither of these things is new -- neither your constant traveling nor your sending of gifts. You have long been both a man on the move and a generous one. But how could I repay you, if you will not accept words -- the only thing I have?