Letter 980: Libanius asks Severinus to repay friendship by helping Leontius.
I say not only that you have enjoyed good fortune, but that I have enjoyed it through your first successes, your second, your third, those that followed, and now this present one as well. If I said that you above all have made the changes of those who slander my conversations look splendid, I would be speaking rightly. You have poured out such force in the courts and in the offices that follow them, and you have shown and continue to show the educated man. Since you repay me with the many daily battles you fight against those who do not think the same about me as you do, repay what you have received from me also by helping my friends; Hermes saw those gifts, and so did the Muses. If you judge this just, and you should judge it just, use every proper eagerness on behalf of admirable Leontius, sparing neither word nor deed. He has not spared either on my behalf. He comes to you for just claims, and they will be stronger with your alliance, which can carry great weight in both life and speech. The one who hears is quick to favor, partly out of respect for the man and partly because he is led by the speech. What should one say of others, when the man who has the scepter from God and has made himself that God's imitator bears witness to these things, attending to what is said and rejecting or suspecting nothing?
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Οὐ σὲ τῆς τύχης ἀπολελαυκέναι φημὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμαυτὸν ἐν τοῖς σοῖς καὶ πρώτοις καὶ δευτέροις καὶ τρίτοις καὶ τοῖς ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνοις καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷδε τῷ νῦν. 2. καὶ εἰ φαίην μάλιστα δὴ σὲ τὰς τροπὰς εἰργάσθαι λαμπρὰς τῶν τὰς ἡμετέρας συκοφαντούντων συνουσίας, ὀρθῶς ἂν εἴην εἰρηκώς· οὕτω πολύς τε ἐρρύης ἐν δικαστηρίοις κἀν τοῖς ἑξῆς σχήμασι τὸν πεπαιδευμένον ἔδειξας καὶ δεικνύεις. 3. ἀμειβόμενος τοίνυν με ταῖς πολλαῖς καὶ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν μάχαις αἷς πρὸς τοὺς οὐ τὰ αὐτά σοι περὶ ἡμῶν φρονοῦντας μάχῃ, κἂν τῷ τοῖς φίλοις ἡμῶν συμπράττειν ἀμείβου τὰ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἃ ἑώρα μὲν ὁ Ἑρμῆς, ἑώρων δὲ αἱ Μοῦσαι. 4. τουτὶ δὲ εἰ νομίζοις δίκαιον, δίκαιον δέ σε τοῦτο νομίζειν, περὶ τὸν θαυμάσιον Λεόντιον ἁπάσῃ προσηκόντως ἂν χρήσαιο προθυμίᾳ μήτε λόγου μηδενὸς μήτ᾽ ἔργου φειδόμενος. οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. 5. ὃς ἀφῖκται μὲν ὡς ὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ δικαίων, ἕξει δὲ ἰσχυρότερα ταῦτα τῇ παρὰ σοῦ συμμαχίᾳ μέγα τι δυναμένῃ φέρειν καὶ βίῳ καὶ γλώττῃ. ὁ γὰρ ἀκούων τὸν μὲν αἰδούμενος, τῇ δὲ ἀγόμενος ταχὺς εἰς τὴν χάριν γίγνεται. καὶ τί ἂν τις λέγοι τοὺς ἄλλους; ἀλλ᾽ ὅτῳ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ σκῆπτρον καὶ ὃς ἐκείνου μιμητὴν αὑτὸν πεποίηκεν, οὗτος ταῦτα μαρτυρεῖ προσέχων τε τοῖς λεγομένοις καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκβάλλων οὐδ᾽ ὑποπτεύων.
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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