Letter 700: An affliction has taken up residence in my head.
To Saturninus. (362)
An affliction dwells in my head that makes living burdensome and death a thing to be prayed for. The physicians' drugs have proved powerless against it, and it would yield to the god alone.
For this reason, then, lead my brother, who has been sent, before the statue [of the god], and join your zeal with him in everything else.
To Parthenius. (362)
If I were free to travel, I would myself have come to you all in the great city, for the god grants that it be called so; but since I am held fast by the constraints which you know, I remain where I am, yet I trust that I shall obtain the oracle, since my brother pours libations on our behalf and you join in prayer.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Σατορνίνῳ. (362)
Ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ μοι κατοικεῖ πάθος ποιεῖ τὸ μὶν ζῆν
βαρύ, τὴν δὲ τελευτὴν ἐν εὐχαῖς. τοῦτο τὰ μὲν τῶν ἰατρῶν
ἐξήλεγξε φάρμακα, μόνῳ δ’ ἂν εἴξοι τῷ θεῷ.
κατὰ τοῦτο
δὴ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀπεσταλμένον πρόσαγε τῷ ἀγάλματι καὶ τὰ
ἄλλα συμπροθυμοῦ.
Παρθενίῳ. (362)
Εἰ μὲν ἦν κινεῖσθαι κύριος, αὐτὸς ἂν ὑμῖν ἧκον εἰς τὴν
μεγάλην πόλιν, δίδωσι γὰρ αὐτὴν οὕτω καλεῖν ὁ θεός· ἐπεὶ
δὲ ἀνάγκαις, ἃς οἶσθα, κατείλημμαι, μένω μέν, πιστεύω δὲ
τεύξεσθαι μαντείας σπένδοντός τε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀδελφοῦ καὶ
σοῦ συνευχομένου.
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
You have not yet ceased to be offended with me, and so I tremble as I write. If you have cared, why, my dear sir, do you not write? If you are still offended, a thing alien from any reasonable soul and from your own, why, while you are preaching to others, that they must not keep their anger till sundown, have you kept yours during many suns?
As I reported in my previous letter, my health was struck down on arrival -- whether by bad water or the change of...
Libanius urges Siburius to act against wrongdoers who harmed Iamblichus.
Marcella had sent some small articles as a present (probably to Paula and Eustochium) and Jerome now writes in their name to thank her for them. He notices the appropriateness of the gifts, not only to the ladies, but also to himself. Written at Rome in 385 A.D.
A benefactor's word and deed comfort Evagrius in the shadow of repentance.