Letter 355: Are you living at Athens, Basil? Have you forgotten yourself? The sons of the Cæsareans could not endure to hear these things.
Basil, are you still living in Athens? Have you forgotten who you are? [Athens: still the prestigious center of Greek rhetoric and philosophy]
The young men of Caesarea couldn't bear to hear what I'm about to tell you. My own tongue wasn't used to saying it either. It was like stepping onto unfamiliar ground — startled by something it had never heard before, it turned on me and said: *Father, you never taught us this. This man is Homer, or Plato, or Aristotle, or Susarion.* [Susarion: credited as the founder of Greek comedy] *He knows everything.*
That's what my tongue said.
I only wish, Basil, that you could praise me the same way.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Λιβάνιος Βασιλείῳ]
Ἆρα, Βασίλειε, μὴ τὰς Ἀθήνας οἰκεῖς, καὶ λέληθας σεαυτόν; οὐ γὰρ τῶν Καισαρέων οἱ παῖδες ταῦτα ἀκούειν ἠδύναντο. ἡ γλῶττα γάρ μοι τούτων ἐθὰς οὐκ ἦν· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερεί τινα κρημνὸν διοδεύοντος, πληγεῖσα τῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων καινοτομίᾳ, ἐμοί τε τῷ πατρὶ ἔλεγε· Πάτερ, οὐκ ἐδίδαξας· Ὅμηρος, οὗτος ἀνήρ, ἀλλὰ Πλάτων, ἀλλʼ Ἀριστοτέλης, ἀλλὰ Σουσαρίων, ὁ τὰ πάντα ἐπιστάμενος. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἡ γλῶττα. σὲ δὲ εἴη, Βασίλειε, τοιαῦτα ἡμᾶς ἐπαινεῖν.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
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