Letter 349: Will you not give over, Basil, packing this sacred haunt of the Muses with Cappadocians, and these redolent of the frost and snow and all Cappadocia's good things? They have almost made me a Cappadocian too, always chanting their I salute you. I must endure, since it is Basil who commands.
Libanius to Basil.
Will you never stop filling this sacred home of the Muses with Cappadocians — people who reek of frost and snow and all of Cappadocia's finest qualities? They have nearly made a Cappadocian out of me as well, forever chanting their "I salute you."
I will endure it, since Basil commands it. But know this: I am making a careful study of their manners and customs, and I intend to transform these men into the refinement and harmony of my Calliope [the Muse of eloquence — Libanius's way of saying his rhetorical school], so that they may seem to you to have been turned from pigeons into doves.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Λιβάνιος Βασιλείῳ]
Οὐ παύσῃ, Βασίλειε, τὸν ἱερὸν τοῦτον τῶν Μουσῶν σηκὸν μεστὸν ποιῶν Καππαδοκῶν, καὶ ταῦτα ἀποζόντων γριτῆς καὶ χιόνος καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν καλῶν; μικροῦ δέ με καὶ Καππαδόκην ἔθηκαν, ἀεί μοι τὸ προσκυνῶ σε προσᾴδοντες. δεῖ δὲ ὅμως ἀνέχεσθαι, Βασιλείου κελεύοντος. ἴσθι τοίνυν, ὡς τῆς μὲν χώρας τοὺς τρόπους ἐξακριβάζω, τὴν δὲ εὐγένειαν καὶ τὸ ἐμμελὲς τῆς ἐμῆς Καλλιόπης μεταμφιάσω τοὺς ἄνδρας, ἵνʼ ὀφθεῖεν ὑμῖν ἀντὶ φασσῶν περιστεραί.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
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