Letter 542: If I write something complimentary about Themistius [one of Libanius's students], you will show the letter to...
To Heortius. (356/57)
If I write anything favorable about Themistius, you will display the letter to many, but in his case not a few will say that you are being deceived; for they will say that this is just what teachers do, to praise their pupils, even when they are worthless.
I therefore, letting go of writing the things I know about the young man, ask you to come yourself to observe the eloquence that is in him.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἑορτίῳ. (356/57)
Ἂν γράψω τι χρηστὸν περὶ τοῦ Θεμιστίου, σὺ μὲν πολ-
λοῖς τὰ γράμματα δείξεις, ἐκείνῳ δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγοι φήσουσι σὲ
ἐξαπατᾶσθαι· ταυτὶ γὰρ εἶναι τῶν διδασκάλων ἐπαινεῖν τοὺς
ὁμιλητάς, κἂν ὦσι φαῦλοι.
ἐγὼ οὖν ἃ σύνοιδα τῷ νεανί-
σκῳ γράφειν ἀφεὶς αὐτόν σε ἥκειν ἀξιῶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ λόγους
ὀψόμενον.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/First1KGreek/blob/master/volume_xml/libanius_10.xml
Related Letters
I am still writing to you while you are away.
You have no idea, my dear Heortius, how many illnesses have hit me, how severe they've been, or how long they've...
We often ill advisedly hate our superiors and love our inferiors. So I, for my part, hold my tongue, and keep silence about the disgrace of the insults offered me. I wait for the Judge above, Who knows how to punish all wickedness in the end, even though a man pour out gold like sand; let him trample on the right, he does but hurt his own soul.
It has not escaped us how much good you are doing for Egypt, nor how much the Egyptians love you in return.
You have many qualities which raise you above the common run of men, but nothing is more distinctly characteristic of you than your zeal for your country. Thus you, who have risen to such a height as to become illustrious throughout all the world, pay a righteous recompense to the land that gave you birth. Yet she, your mother city, who bore you...