Letter 12: Aeneas sends his portrait to Epiphanius through Euthymius.
For most lovers, even the sight of a beloved person's sandal is enough to console desire; you, however, ask for images of both soul and body. Words explain the mind clearly and give an unadorned sketch of the soul. For that very reason my writings have gone to you. I had resolved not to draw a portrait of a portrait, but I was ashamed before your affection. So I summoned the painter of living creatures, sat opposite him, kept my face still, stayed solemnly silent, and let art join itself to nature. The painter's hand seized my appearance and set it into colors. Now it is with you, so that you may both speak with me and see me, lacking nothing that those who are present with me possess. Excellent Euthymius serves us in this, and for its sake he gladly endures the sea, a hardship rivals think unbearable. Let us hide his labor under our care and kindness.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ιβ'. Ἐπιφανίῳ σοφιστῇ.
Τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἐρασταῖς καὶ ὑπόδημα τοῦ ἐρωμένου φανὲν ἱκανὸν παραμυθεῖσθαι τὸν ἔρωτα, σὺ δὲ καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος εἰκόνας ἐπιζητεῖς. οἱ μὲν οὖν λόγοι τὴν διάνοιαν σαφῶς ἑρμηνεύοντες ὑπογράφουσι τὴν ψυχήν. ὅμως προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν τὰ ζῷα γράφοντα καὶ ἐναντίον καθήμενος, ἀτρέμῳ προσώπῳ, ἀφῆκα τὴν τέχνην τῇ φύσει συνάπτεσθαι. διακονεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ καλὸς Εὐθύμιος.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern aeneas gaza hercher v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/download/epistolographoih00herc/epistolographoih00herc_djvu.txt
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