Letter 205: I send you these small tokens not because they match the scale of my affection -- nothing could -- but because they...
To Domnio. (360)
A resolution has won out here: to transplant your fine institution to this place -- the study of law. Seeking the best teacher, I find that man is you, but thinking it impious to uproot an unwilling man, I leave you master of your own decision -- desiring to have you, but not deigning to drag you.
Tell me then what you decide -- and may you decide what I wish. But if the other option wins, indicate whom we might summon without going wrong.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Δομνίωνι. (360)
Δόγμα νενίκηκε παρ’ ἡμῖν τὸ παρ’ ὑμῖν καλὸν καὶ τῇδε
φυτεῦσαι, νόμων μάθησιν. τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄριστον ζητῶν σὲ τοῦ-
τον εὑρίσκω, τὸ δ’ ἄκοντα ἀναστῆσαι νομίζων οὐκ εὐσεβὲς
βουλῆς ἀφίημι κύριον ἐπιθυμῶν μὲν ἔχειν, ἕλκειν δὲ οὐκ ἀξιῶν.
φράζε δὴ τὸ δοκοῦν καὶ φράσαις γε ὅ βούλομαι. νικῶντος
δὲ θατέρου τίνα καλοῦντες οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιεν μήνυε.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from AI-assisted translation from original text.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/First1KGreek/blob/master/volume_xml/libanius_10.xml
Related Letters
The pleasure I would have felt if you were governing Syria, I feel now that you are governing cities I hold equal to...
So at last you write -- though it took some prompting.
I write to you in good health, though "good" is a relative term at my age and in these times.
That you, surrounded by so many responsibilities and pricked by anxieties about the war, still take thought for how...
We have received a wonderful report about both of you -- Hypatius and yourself -- and you should know that you fully...