Letter 145: Hierius, a learned teacher of the Italian tongue, is sent to a patron of justice.
I did not think it right to let the learned Hierius, the man who among us represents the Italian tongue and is adorned more by good character than by education, go to you in silence. It would always be good to enjoy you in person, but people say a second-best voyage is to converse with the absent through letters. Truly happy are those for whom you administer justice, hanging as if from the tripod of your voice and seeing Justice return to them as a new spectacle, though time had already dimmed her. It is needless to say that you will do well in the matters for which he needs you and the man who has brought you this letter. For if words are his life, how will he not honor the fathers of words when he sees them? Let him return reporting what we pray to hear: that in experience you defeat reputation, and that you give more than those who receive can wish.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Εὐδαίμονι Τὸν λογιώτατον Ἱέριον τὸν τῆς Ἰταλῶν παρ' ἡμῖν προβεβλημένον φωνῆς καὶ τρόποις ἀγαθοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ παιδείᾳ κοσμούμενον οὐκ ᾠήθην δεῖν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἰόντα παραπέμψαι σιγῇ. καλὸν μὲν γὰρ ἂν παρόντων ὑμῶν ἀπολαύειν ἀεί· δεύτερος δέ φασι πλοῦς τοῖς ἀποῦσι διὰ γραμμάτων προσομιλεῖν. πλὴν εὐδαίμονες ὄντως οἷς διέπεις τὰ δίκαια, καθάπερ τινὸς τρίποδος τῆς σῆς ἐξηρτημένοι φωνῆς καὶ καινὸν ὄντως θέαμα τὴν Δίκην αὐτοῖς ἐπανελθοῦσαν ὁρῶντες, ἣν προλαβὼν ὁ χρόνος ἠμαύρωσε. περιττὸν δὲ λέγειν ὡς εὖ ποιήσεις ἐν οἷς ὑμῶν δεῖται καὶ τὸν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὑμῖν κομισάμενον. ᾧ γὰρ βίος οἱ λόγοι, πῶς οὐ τιμήσει τοὺς τῶν λόγων πατέρας ἰδών; ἡκέτω τοίνυν ἀγγέλλων ἅπερ ἀκούειν εὐχόμεθα, ὡς νικᾷς τῇ πείρᾳ τὴν φήμην, καὶ μείζω δίδως ἤπερ οἱ λαμβάνοντες βούλονται.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern procopius gaza batch9 matia greek v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.matia.gr/pisth/pdf/pg_migne/Procopius_of_Gaza_PG_87a-87c/Epistulae.pdf
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