Resultados25 letters/passages
libanius · c. 374 · score 0.02
To Anatolius. (361 AD) What outrages have been committed — not on the Danube near the Scythians, nor at the ends of Libya, but in Phoenicia, the most civilized region of all, where laws exist, governors are in charge, and an emperor lives under arms to keep all violence at bay. A certain Lucianus, a man holding some mi …
libanius · c. 327 · score 0.02
To the same person. (359/60) I am inclined to believe that your affairs are not too pressing, since you seem to have plenty of leisure for letter-writing. The beauty of your letter, at any rate, is that of a man composing literature, not a governor touring his cities. But if that is wrong and you are in fact overwhelme …
libanius · c. 337 · score 0.02
To Iphicrates. (358/359) The sons of Caesarius did not make a bad decision in the first place when they entrusted themselves to a rhetorician, and now -- O Muses! -- may they find something at my school that will remind them of a certain proverb. What proverb that is, you probably see, but it would not be modest for me …
libanius · c. 375 · score 0.02
To Fortunatianus. (361) We are truly in a desert with you gone — or rather, in something worse than a desert. For those in a desert associate with neither worse nor better people, but we go searching for the one we should have and keep running into those we would profit from avoiding. The one man who was our sole conso …
libanius · c. 349 · score 0.02
To Thalassios. (~358 AD) I have no complaint against your household — quite the contrary, I am deeply grateful. For not only do we receive what we request, but if we pause in giving instructions, they say they are being wronged because they have nothing to do for us. You, however — both your family and I myself reproac …
libanius · c. 378 · score 0.02
To Bassianus. (~361 AD) You did well to quench a great deal of nonsense with a few words—of which I was already laughing before your letter arrived, and once it came, everyone joined me. I am glad that you clearly take pleasure in being ruled by a ruler who knows how to rule. For in saying the scepter was given to him …
libanius · c. 374 · score 0.01
She fought back, and her character made her display strength beyond her nature. At this point Lucianus drew a sword — O gods! She welcomed only this: that she might die before any disgrace. When he realized she was ready to give up her very life, he called slaves and ordered them to bring ropes. She was bound on a bed …
libanius · c. 347 · score 0.01
To Spectatus. (358/59) Why should I not tell you the things with which I delight myself? I delight myself by imagining I see your affairs and exclaiming at each one: "Now our Spectatus is not far from the emperor! Now he is very close! Now he is at the emperor's side, narrating his journey to Persia — the rivers he cro …
libanius · c. 318 · score 0.01
To Florentius. (358/359) Many good things to you for your eagerness on my behalf -- but you seem to have quite forgotten about my body in making such demands. I am the man for whom even a walk to the marketplace involves real effort. What other men find refreshing -- well, for me my comfortable couch is sweeter, on acc …
libanius · c. 360 · score 0.01
To Julian. (356 AD) I was glad to see Ablabius for many reasons, not least because he brought me a letter from you. We will sooner hate ourselves than find any fault with you — so thoroughly have you made it your practice to advance our interests. You are already fighting a regular war, and a long one, out of your refu …
libanius · c. 349 · score 0.01
To Acacius. (358 AD) You do seem to think me very fond of gold, since you told Olympius to bring me the gold piece for the wedding without a letter. But he — knowing what I am when it comes to gold and what I am when it comes to letters — refused to bring one without the other, and let the lesser gift go. He did, howev …
libanius · c. 324 · score 0.01
That your city [Constantinople] is bigger than ours, and by a wide margin -- and more beautiful than it is big -- and that it surpasses not only us but every city in the gifts it receives from the sea: all this is beyond dispute. But let me tell you what we've been feeling. There was a belief among us that the swift go …
libanius · c. 330 · score 0.01
To Albanius, former student. (360) I am no prophet, but I can foresee certain things by reasoning. And so I see and predict that much good will come to both of you from each other. You will share in plans, labors, and achievements, and you will astonish those who expected otherwise -- I might add, you will pain them to …
libanius · c. 337 · score 0.01
To Eudaemon. (357/358) It is an old passion of mine to delight in Greek words and to consider that those who traffic in anything else are committing a crime against rhetoric. I used to be downcast, though, at having no one to share the hunt, no one ready to join me in tracking down these matters. Someone even laughed a …
libanius · c. 337 · score 0.01
To Clearchus. (358/359?) "They lie who say you are the son of Zeus" -- someone once said this to one of the Heraclidae before Troy [a Homeric allusion]. Likewise, people say you have influence in the city, but the facts prove otherwise. At any rate, you have done nothing to help Olympius, who is being wronged in every …
libanius · c. 381 · score 0.01
Your office gave you the advantage of meeting the admirable Fortunatianus before I did. While we were still making predictions, each naming a different day for his likely arrival, you already had the man and were entertaining him. And he returned the favor, as one would expect, with a finer feast -- news about the empe …
libanius · c. 319 · score 0.01
To Spectatus. (359/360) Thucydides says that a wrong is dissolved by a favor, when someone later does something pleasing to the person he has wronged. But you first wronged me by forgetting about me, and then tried to cure one evil with another, constructing a road worse than a pit to my ruin. While these charges were …
libanius · c. 332 · score 0.01
To Andronicus, a general. (360) No doubt you and your friends often discuss Phoenicia -- one praising the nature of its soil, another the tempering of its seasons, a third the bounty of its sea, including the famous dye [Tyrian purple], which they say was first discovered by accident when a dog, knowing nothing of what …
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. 347 · score 0.01
To Clematius. (358 AD) Was anyone ever so pleased digging the earth for one purpose only to stumble upon gold, as Jovinus was at seeing you as governor, and you at receiving him? I call your part good fortune, and his virtue — for he ran such a long road to see a friend, while such a prize came to you sitting still. Or …
libanius · c. 323 · score 0.01
I'm calling you to do what you do best: defend those who've been wronged. This Zenobius served Elusa [a city in the Negev region] faithfully as guardian of the peace, but was driven off his land by a man who knows how to buy such things. Don't stand by while he's cheated or while I'm made a laughingstock -- since I'm k …
libanius · c. 334 · score 0.01
To Modestus. (358/59) Rhetors seek goodwill from judges -- not only those who have condemned themselves as having nothing strong to say, but also those who have confidence in the justice of their case. For even a strong case wants a willing ear, and a willing ear comes from goodwill.
basil_caesarea · c. 377 · score 0.01
Why does Basil object to my letter — the very proof that philosophy is alive between us? You've taught me to tease, but your teasing, I'll admit, has a certain gravitas to it — dignified even in jest. But I appeal to our friendship itself, to the pastimes we've shared — please, I beg you, put aside whatever distress my …
libanius · c. 355 · score 0.01
Do you still remember me now that you have gone to Rome and are gazing at sights you never saw before, convincing yourself that this is not earth but some portion of heaven? That I remember you is no wonder -- I live among old things and no novelty could make me forget my friends. But perhaps my question was wrong. Eve …
libanius · c. 383 · score 0.01
No sooner had the emperor released you than he encountered me. He nearly passed by in silence, since my face had been changed by both time and illness. But when my uncle -- who shares my name -- told him who I was, he was suddenly moved with a wonderful stirring upon his horse. He seized my right hand and would not let …