Letter 37: I swear by the gods: I do not wish the Galileans [Christians] to be put to death, or beaten unjustly, or harmed in...
To Atarbius 2
[362, Const. or Antioch]
I affirm by the gods that I do not wish the Galilaeans to be either put to death or unjustly beaten, or to suffer any other injury; but nevertheless I do assert absolutely that the god-fearing must be preferred to them. For through the folly
of the Galilaeans almost everything has been overturned, whereas through the grace of the gods are we all preserved. Wherefore we ought to honour the gods and the god-fearing, both men and cities.3
2 This is probably Atarbius (so spelled in the Letters of Antioch
Libanius) a native of Ancyra and at this time administrator of the district of the Euphrates. In 364 he held high
office in Macedonia.
3 For other letters on the same subject cf. To the Citizens of
Byzacium, p. 125, and To Hecebolius, p. 127.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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