Letter 867: Libanius asks Promotus to send him a firsthand account of the current war through Antioch's envoys.
Even if the time now past has been wronged by me, because I did not write to you, though you belong among my friends, let the proper thing at least happen with the time that follows, whether you intend to write back or not. A reply is the greatest thing, but writing itself is no small thing either.
The very act of writing makes the writer happier, especially when he writes to a man like you: one who hates tyranny and arrogance, loves kingship and law, and gladly enters every danger in order to cut down the former and protect the latter. So give me this favor, noble friend; in doing so you will give the same favor to the emperor.
Make me, though absent, know the present war no less than if I had used your own hand or the hand of one of those who serve in such matters. Let the voice be yours, the voice of a man ignorant of nothing that has happened, neither great nor small. You have three men who will bring this to me, men adorned by many qualities, including admiration for you. Let them be able to say, along with everything else, that they bring us this gift too: a general's present sent to an orator.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ ὁ παρελθὼν ἠδίκηται παρ’ ἐμοῦ χρόνος οὐκ ἐπεσταλκότος σοι καὶ ταῦτα ὄντι ἐν τῷ τῶν φίλων ἀριθμῷ, γιγνέσθω τὰ προσήκοντα περί γε τὸν μετ’ ἐκεῖνον, εἴτε μέλλοις ἀντεπιστέλλειν εἴτε μή. μέγιστον μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο, μικρὸν δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο. 2. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸ τὸ γράφειν ἡδίω ποιεῖ τὸν γράφοντα, ἄλλως τε κἂν πρὸς τοιοῦτον ἐπιστέλλῃ, μισοῦντα μὲν τυραννίδα καὶ ὕβριν, φιλοῦντα δὲ βασιλείαν καὶ νόμους, ἐμβαίνοντα δὲ ἡδέως εἰς κινδύνους ἅπαντας, ὅπως ἥδε ἐκείνην ἐκκόψειε. 3. καί μοι δός, ὦ γενναῖε, χάριν, τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ δώσεις. ποίησον δή με τῶν παρόντων τὸν ἀπόντα μὴ ἧττον εἰδέναι τὸν πόλεμον ἢ τῇ σαυτοῦ χειρὶ χρησάμενος ἢ τινος ἑτέρου τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑπηρετούντων. ἡ φωνὴ δὲ ἔστω σὴ τοῦ μηδὲν τῶν πεπραγμένων ἀγνοοῦντος μήτε μεῖζον μήτε ἔλαττον. 4. ἔχεις δὲ τοὺς ἐμοὶ τοῦτο κομιοῦντας τρεῖς ἄνδρας, οὓς ἄλλα τε κοσμεῖ καὶ τὸ τὰ σὰ θαυμάζειν. ἐχέτωσαν οὖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων λέγειν ὡς καὶ τοῦτο ἡμῖν φέρουσι δῶρον στρατηγοῦ ῥήτορι πεπομφότος.
Revision history
- 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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