Letter 61: I feel a mixture of joy and its opposite.
To Olympius. (359/360)
I feel a mixture of joy and its opposite. That Priscianus's fortunes are advancing is a festival for me. But being separated from the man who, in his devotion to my interests, imitates my own uncle -- that is no light matter.
But it was only fitting that not only the best of doctors but also the best of orators should attend the emperor. And so for a long time Olympius has been close to him, and now the orator has arrived too.
Make his life there no worse than life at home by making your own friends his friends. You did not gain your influence without effort, but he, with your power behind him, will gain his quickly. No one prepared such a harbor for you; but he will win his crown without a struggle, thanks to your labors.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ὀλυμπίῳ. (359/360)
Κρᾶσις ἔχει μέ τις ἡδονῆς καὶ τοὐναντίου τὸ μὲν γὰρ
ἐπίδοσιν λαμβάνειν Πρισκιανῷ τὴν τύχην τοῦθ’ ἡμῖν ἑορτή,
τὸ δὲ διεστάναι με τοῦ τὸν ἐμὸν θεῖον εἰς τἀμὰ μιμουμένου
τοῦτό γε ἡμῖν οὐ κοῦφον.
ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἔδει μὴ μόνον <τῶν>
ἰατρῶ ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶι ῥητόρων τὸν ἄκρον συνεῖναι τῷ βασι-
λεῖ. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάλαι μὶν Ὀλύμπιος ἐγγὺς ἐκείνῳ, νῦν δὲ ὁ
ῥήτωρ ἀφῖκται.
ποιήσεις δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν ἤν οὐ χείρω τῆς
οἰκείας κοινοὺς αὐτῷ φίλους τοὺς σαυτοῦ καθιστάς. σὺ μὲν
γὰρ οὐκ ἀπόνως ἴσχυσας, ὁ δὲ ἐν τῇ σῇ δυνάμει ταχέως ἰσχύ-
σει. σοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς τοιοῦτον προητοίμασεν ὅρμον ὁ δὲ
ἐκ τῶν σῶν ἄθλων ἀκονιτὶ στεφανώσεται.
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
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