Letter 1023: A grateful report on Anatolius' advocacy, with a request to turn blame into forgiveness.

LibaniusAnatolius, correspondent of Libanius|c. 391 AD|Libanius|From Antioch|AI-assisted
counciladvocacyPriscianusgratitudeforgiveness
The letter distinguishes hostility from confusion, asking Anatolius to teach the council how to see clearly.

Good Priscianus reported what you did, though he was speaking to people who already knew it: what sort of man you were outside the council chamber in our friend's cause, what sort within it, what sort before the trial was about to be decided, while it was being argued, and after it ended as it did. For all this I am grateful to you and praise you, and I think the gods themselves praise it too, just as they praise what your brothers did for the same man. If they had not labored then and brought him care, doctors, sleepless nights, and expense, he would now be gone, or alive without a foot. Know, then, that the memory of these words and deeds will remain immortal with me. I am grateful to Priscianus as well, both for the pain he felt on our behalf and for the pleasure with which he described your actions. He did not merely describe them; he rejoiced as he told how we had been benefited by you and how you had won honor. Add this too: persuade the great council that what happened was neither my rash act nor the act of the man who traveled there, but the work of people stirred up who spoke in that way not from hatred, but because they could not see the matter clearly. Let no one blame me as though I failed to understand our own affairs, and let someone grant him forgiveness.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

᾿Δνατολίῳ. (891)
1. Πρὸς εἰδότας μέν, ὅμως δὲ ἀπήγγειλεν ὃ καλὸς Πρισκιανός,
οἷος μὲν ἔξω γένοιο τοῦ βουλευτηρίου περὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον, οἷος
δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ οἷος μὲν μελλούσης δηϑήσεσϑαι τῆς δίκης,
οἷος δὲ λεγομένης, οἷος δὲ ἐκβάσης, ὡς ἐξέβη. 2. πάντων οὖν
σοι τούτων ἔχομέν τε χάριν καὶ ἐπαινοῦμεν, ἅ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ
παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπαινεῖσθαι τῶν ϑεῶν, ὥσπερ αὖ καὶ τὰ τῶν
ἀδελφῶν σου περὶ τὸν αὐτόν. ἃ εἰ μὴ τότε ἔκαμόν τε ἐκεῖνοι
καὶ εἰσήνεγκαν φροντίδας καὶ ἰατροὺς καὶ ἀγρυπνίαν καὶ δα-
πάνην. ᾧχετ᾽ ἂν οὗτος ἢ ἄνευ ποδὸς ἔξη. 8. τούτων δὴ τῶν
τε λόγων καὶ ἔργων ἔἴσϑι κεισομένην ἐν ἐμοὶ μνήμην ἀϑάνατον.
χάρις δὲ καὶ Πρισκιανῷ τῆς τε λύπης ἣν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐλυπήϑη
καὶ τῆς ἡδονῆς μεϑ᾽ ἧς τὰ ὑμέτερα διηγεῖτο. οὐ γὰρ δὴ
ἐδον , κι ᾿ Ηξ ΦΡΝ ΝΣ. ὩΣ
διηγεῖτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τοῦ χαίρειν ἡμῶν μὲν εὖ
ἘΑΡΣ ΕΡΕ ἐδ ος ᾿ ; τυ
παϑόντων ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν, ὑμῶν δὲ εὐδοκιμούντων. 4. ἀλλὰ κἀ-
Ε Ὰ Ξ : κ»
κεῖνο μέντοι πρόσϑες᾽ πεῖϑε τὴν μεγάλην βουλὴν ὡς οὔτ᾽
ἐμὸν ἐχεῖνο τόλμημα οὔτε τοῦ πεπορευμένου, τῶν δ᾽ ἀναπτε-
ρωσάντων οὐ μίσει μὲν τοιαῦτα διαλεχϑέντων, ἰδεῖν δὲ καλῶς
τὸ πρᾶγμα οὐ δυνηϑέντων. μήτ᾽ οὖν ἐμέ τις ὡς ἀγνοήσαντα
τὰ ἡμέτερα μεμφέσϑω κἀκείνῳ τις ἐχέτω συγγνώμην.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch11 t261 reviewed v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/download/foerster-libanii-opera/Foerster%20%281922%29%2C%20Libanii%20opera%2011_djvu.xml

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