Letter 116: May your wedding go as you wish, with Zeus the god of marriage and the daughter of Zeus [Aphrodite] whose work is...

LibaniusMacedonius|c. 325 AD|Libanius
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To Macedonius. (359/60)

May your marriage proceed according to the will of Zeus the god of weddings and of the daughter of Zeus whose domain is marriage, and may they grant good fortune to the union. For us, however, the time has not yet come to attend such occasions. Otherwise we might have been not only among those feasting but also among those singing, since it is a friend who is giving away his niece and a friend who is taking the girl as his bride.

But as I said, we share in the proceedings only so far as to offer our prayers from afar — for that much, at least, is permitted us.

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