Letter 124: Just as I'm enjoying the hospitality gifts you sent, so I'll make use of your letter's opening.
Libanius→Demetrius|c. 325 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
education books
To Demetrius. (359/60)
Just as I make use of the gifts of hospitality which you sent, so too shall I make use of the opening of your letter. For let there be held in common between us not only the products of your marketplace and your land, but also those of your mind.
I say, then, I too, that thanks are owed to the Seasons both for the other things and because, in bringing the festivals, they bring an occasion for your letters, which are, I think, more pleasant than the festivals themselves.
Your letter, however, I received while I was listening to the young men, and I was vexed at the one who was not [reading] well, since I was drawn on by the letter. For he did not know [...] precisely what he was saying, longing to dissolve [the passage].
But when he [...] left off, and I found the Seasons being praised and the season stretched out through everything that was written, then, letting go of what I was about to say, I shared the letter with my companions, and for them it was enough. And thus there was added to your gifts a release from the labor that was then pressing upon me.
**To Demetrius** (359/60 AD)
Just as I make use of the guest-gifts you sent, so too shall I make use of the opening of your letter. For let me share not only the products of your marketplace and your land, but also those of your mind.
I say, then, myself as well: thanks be to the Seasons for all their blessings, and especially because in bringing the festivals they bring occasion for letters from you — letters sweeter, I believe, than the festivals themselves.
I received your letter, however, while I was listening to my students recite, and I grew annoyed at the one who would not finish, drawn as I was by your epistle. For I could not properly attend to what he was saying, so eager was I to break the seal.
But when he stopped and I found the Seasons praised within, and grace stretched through every line of what you had written, I set aside what I had been about to say and shared the letter with my companions — and it was enough for them too. And so, to your gifts was added relief from the labor that had been pressing upon me.
Just as I make use of the gifts of hospitality which you sent, so too shall I make use of the opening of your letter. For let there be held in common between us not only the products of your marketplace and your land, but also those of your mind.
I say, then, I too, that thanks are owed to the Seasons both for the other things and because, in bringing the festivals, they bring an occasion for your letters, which are, I think, more pleasant than the festivals themselves.
Your letter, however, I received while I was listening to the young men, and I was vexed at the one who was not [reading] well, since I was drawn on by the letter. For he did not know [...] precisely what he was saying, longing to dissolve [the passage].
But when he [...] left off, and I found the Seasons being praised and the season stretched out through everything that was written, then, letting go of what I was about to say, I shared the letter with my companions, and for them it was enough. And thus there was added to your gifts a release from the labor that was then pressing upon me.
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.