Letter 856: Libanius praises Proclus for reforming marketplace injustice and says new praise speeches should celebrate the achievement.

LibaniusProclus, correspondent of Libanius|c. 388 AD|Libanius|From Antioch|AI-assisted
Proclusmarketplacejusticepublic praiseanti-corruptionrhetoriccivic reform
The phrase about a handsome charge of idleness shows Libanius joking that failing to praise Proclus would itself be conspicuous.

Word has reached me of what you have done there: you have driven every injustice out of the marketplace and forced those who profit where they should not profit to behave justly.

These things have not yet been told to the men who compose speeches; the earlier period has been praised instead. But these new achievements will soon receive equal treatment. Better voices, better tongues, and better powers have been found for you. Still, those of us who are here with me must avoid the handsome charge of idleness.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

1. Ἥκει λόγος ὡς ἡμᾶς τῶν ἐκεῖσε πεπραγμένων καὶ ὡς ἐξήλασας ἅπαν ὅσον ἄδικον τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀναγκάσας εἶναι δικαίους τοὺς ὅθεν οὐ δεῖ κερδαίνοντας. 2. ταυτὶ δὲ οὔπω μὲν εἴρηται τοῖς ποιοῦσι τοὺς λόγους, ἀλλ’ ὁ πρότερος ὕμνηται χρόνος, τεύξεται δὲ καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἴσων αὐτίκα. καὶ γὰρ εὖ βελτίους εὕρηνταί σοι καὶ φωναὶ καὶ γλῶτται καὶ δυνάμεις· ἀλλὰ τοῖς γε μεθ’ ἡμῶν οὖσι καλὸν ἔγκλημα διαφεύγειν ἀργίας.

Revision history

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

    Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch2 gemini flash 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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