Letter 205: I send you these small tokens not because they match the scale of my affection -- nothing could -- but because they...

LibaniusCalliopius|c. 333 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
education booksfriendship

To Domnio. (360)

A resolution has prevailed among us to plant here too that which is excellent among you, the study of the laws. Seeking, then, the best man for this, I find that it is you; but, since I consider it not pious to raise up an unwilling man, I leave you master of your own decision, desiring indeed to have you, yet not thinking it right to drag you. Tell me, then, what seems best to you, and may you tell me what I wish. But if the other course should prevail, indicate whom we might summon without going wrong.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Δομνίωνι. (360)

Δόγμα νενίκηκε παρ’ ἡμῖν τὸ παρ’ ὑμῖν καλὸν καὶ τῇδε
φυτεῦσαι, νόμων μάθησιν. τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄριστον ζητῶν σὲ τοῦ-
τον εὑρίσκω, τὸ δ’ ἄκοντα ἀναστῆσαι νομίζων οὐκ εὐσεβὲς
βουλῆς ἀφίημι κύριον ἐπιθυμῶν μὲν ἔχειν, ἕλκειν δὲ οὐκ ἀξιῶν.

φράζε δὴ τὸ δοκοῦν καὶ φράσαις γε ὅ βούλομαι. νικῶντος
δὲ θατέρου τίνα καλοῦντες οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιεν μήνυε.

Revision history

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

    Initial corpus import from modern libanius retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/First1KGreek/blob/master/volume_xml/libanius_10.xml

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