Letter 647: Look — you have drawn even Greece to yourself, and along with the young you have persuaded practically even old men...
To Domnio. (361)
Look now, you have stirred up all Greece toward yourself, and along with the young men you have persuaded all but the old men too to come running to Phoenicia. And this Hilarinus here formerly desired to obtain some share of what is mine, but, being hindered by fortune, he now comes to take a share in what is yours.
You must therefore become to him such a man as I myself would have been, had he taken part in my studies. And I speak not about goodwill, which everywhere he would say that you employ, but rather so that he may learn much in no great length of time. For to those who come late to their lessons and put up with mockery, it is fitting that this be their reward from their teachers: an abundant imparting and an eagerness that produces speed in the craft.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. (361)
Ἴδου, καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πρὸς σαυτὸν κεκίνηκας καὶ μετὰ
τῶν νέων σχεδόν τι καὶ γέροντας εἰς Φοινίκην ἀναπέπεικας
τρέχειν. Ἱλαρῖνος δὲ οὑτοσὶ πρότερον μὲν ἐπεθύμει τῶν ἐμῶν
τι λαβεῖν, κωλυθεὶς δὲ τῇ τύχη τῶν σῶν ἔρχεται μετασχήσων.
δεῖ δή σε τοιοῦτον περὶ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι, οἷος ἂν ἦν ἐγώ,
τῶν ἐμῶν εἰ μετεῖχε διατριβῶν. λέγω δὲ οὐ περὶ τῆς εὐνοίας,
ᾗ πανταχοῦ φαίη χρώμενος, ἀλλ’ ὅπως πολλὰ ἐν οὐ πολλῷ
μάθοι χρόνῳ. τοῖς γὰρ ὀψὲ πρὸς τὰς μαθήσεις ἐρχομένοις καὶ
σκώμματα ὑπομένουσι τοῦτ’ εἶναι προσήκει παρὰ τῶν διδασκά-
λων γέρας, ἀθρόαν μετάδοσιν καὶ προθυμίαν τάχος ἐμποιοῦ-
σαν τῇ τέχνῃ.
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
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