Letter 10: You have no idea, my dear Heortius, how many illnesses have hit me, how severe they've been, or how long they've...
Libanius→Heortius|c. 315 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
education booksfriendship
You do not know, my dear Heortius, either the number or the magnitude of the illnesses that have assailed me, nor how far along in time they advanced. For otherwise you would never have passed over sympathizing and instead found fault; but as it is, ignorance, everywhere harmful to men, has incited you too to bring an accusation instead of offering consolation. I, however, do not reproach you for being ignorant of our difficulties.
And yet one of those who, like you, find fault so readily might say that you are ignorant because you do not inquire, and that you do not inquire because you hate, and that, presenting this as disdain, you would yourself be liable to greater charges. But I will not do this, since I do not think it right to insult a strong friendship with false accusation. Rather, whenever something of this kind happens, after seeking out a more reasonable cause for the matter, I in this way make my defense to myself on behalf of those concerned.
But you do not deliver your oratory at a fitting moment when you say that there are others who are the accusers, men whom you yourself fabricated by means of your letter. For what has come over you, that you did not silence them but were persuaded?
And having made mention of disdain, if you will not pay the penalty, give thanks to Heracles the Averter of evils. As for me, I have already taken vengeance with a speech upon a whole city that uttered this very thing.
**To Heortius** (380 AD)
You do not know, my dear Heortius, the number of the illnesses that have struck me, nor their severity, nor how long they have dragged on. For had you known, you would never have passed over sympathy to go straight to reproach. But ignorance is harmful to people in every circumstance, and in your case it has driven you to accuse me when you should have been offering consolation. For my part, I do not blame you for being unaware of my troubles.
And yet, someone as quick to censure as you might say that your ignorance comes from not inquiring, and that you do not inquire because you do not care — and so, while leveling the charge of contempt, you would find yourself open to even graver ones. But I will not do this, for I do not think it right to insult a strong friendship with false accusations. Rather, whenever something of this sort happens, I search for a more charitable explanation of events and thus make my friends' defense to myself.
You, however, play the rhetorician at the wrong moment, claiming that "others" are the ones making accusations — others you yourself invented in your letter. For why on earth did you not silence them instead of letting yourself be persuaded?
As for your mention of contempt — if you do not pay the penalty for that, you may thank Heracles the Averter of Evil. I myself have already punished an entire city for uttering that word, with a speech.
You do not know, my dear Heortius, either the number or the magnitude of the illnesses that have assailed me, nor how far along in time they advanced. For otherwise you would never have passed over sympathizing and instead found fault; but as it is, ignorance, everywhere harmful to men, has incited you too to bring an accusation instead of offering consolation. I, however, do not reproach you for being ignorant of our difficulties.
And yet one of those who, like you, find fault so readily might say that you are ignorant because you do not inquire, and that you do not inquire because you hate, and that, presenting this as disdain, you would yourself be liable to greater charges. But I will not do this, since I do not think it right to insult a strong friendship with false accusation. Rather, whenever something of this kind happens, after seeking out a more reasonable cause for the matter, I in this way make my defense to myself on behalf of those concerned.
But you do not deliver your oratory at a fitting moment when you say that there are others who are the accusers, men whom you yourself fabricated by means of your letter. For what has come over you, that you did not silence them but were persuaded?
And having made mention of disdain, if you will not pay the penalty, give thanks to Heracles the Averter of evils. As for me, I have already taken vengeance with a speech upon a whole city that uttered this very thing.
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.