Letter 963: Libanius celebrates Siburius' letter and hopes it will begin a steadier correspondence.
Your letter delighted me so much that I handed it to some of the young men and told them to carry it through the whole city, showing it to those worthy to see it. That way you would be praised for honoring eloquence, and I would be envied for being honored by such a man. Many people streamed to me because of the reading. I would have been still more enviable if this had been happening throughout the past years; as it is, letters that should have arrived often have arrived first, and I hope they will not also be the only ones. That is in your power. Share your friendship with me, as your brother has done. He wanted to give me a better rank and bore my being driven away gently. Thinking highly both of his feeling toward me and of yours, I pray that he may dwell in the meadows there, and that you may live long and come here. Your company will make us better, and your presence will make us happier, since you will show those who are to be under you your father alive in yourself.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Οὕτως ἤσθην σου τοῖς γράμμασιν, ὥστε δοὺς αὐτὰ τῶν νεανίσχων τισὶν ἐκέλευσα διὰ πάσης φέροντας τῆς πόλεως δεικνύειν οἷς ἄξιον, ὅπως τε σὺ ἐπαινοῖο τιμῶν τὸ χρῆμα τῶν λόγων ἐγώ τε ζηλωτὸς εἴην ὑπὸ τοιούτων τιμώμενος. καὶ συνερρύησαν δὴ πολλοὶ παρ᾽ ἐμὲ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τοῦτο πεποιηκυίας. 2. ἦν ἂν οὖν ζηλωτότερος, εἰ παντὸς τοῦτο ἦν τοῦ παρελθόντος χρόνου· νῦν δ᾽ ἃ χρῆν ἐπὶ πολλοῖς ἥκειν γράμματα, πρῶτα ἀφῖκται, βουλοίμην δ᾽ ἂν αὐτὰ μὴ καὶ μόνα. 3. τούτου δὲ σὺ κύριος, ὃς εἰκότως ἂν αὐτὸ ποιοίης τῆς τε φιλίας μοι τῆς σεαυτοῦ μεταδοὺς καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν εἰδὼς ταὐτὸ πεποιηκότα, τὸν βουληθέντα μέν μοι καλλίω ποιῆσαι τὴν τάξιν, πρᾴως δὲ ἐνηνοχότα καὶ τὸ διώσασθαί με. 4. φρονῶν τοίνυν ἐπί τε τῇ ἐκείνου περὶ ἐμὲ γνώμῃ μέγα καὶ δὴ καὶ τῇ σῇ τὸν μὲν ἐν λειμῶσιν εὔχομαι τοῖς ἐκεῖ διατρίβειν, σὲ δ᾽ ἡμῖν εἰς μῆκός τε βίου προελθεῖν καὶ δεῦρο ἐλθεῖν. ποιήσεις γὰρ ἡμᾶς ταῖς συνουσίαις βελτίονας, οὓς ἡδίους ποιήσει φανεὶς ὁ δείξων τοῖς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐσομένοις ἐν αὑτῷ τὸν πατέρα.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch8 t258 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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