Letter 883: Libanius praises Sophronius as essential to Constantinople and asks for continued favor for Iasius and Iphicrates.
I believe you will live a long and full life, as the gods surely wish that great city [Constantinople] to flourish, and they know how essential your presence is to its well-being. While the gods will look after that, it is only right that Iasius should benefit from your care now. He is a man who remembers your past kindness everywhere he goes, constantly speaking and singing your praises for everything you have done for him. I wrote to you previously on behalf of Iphicrates, and that letter did him much good; I also recently sent another letter to Iphicrates for you, which should reach you soon. I am writing again now, even though I haven't received a reply from you, because I trust in our friendship and consider that trust worth more than a dozen letters. We are also confident that through our embassy - whether it is currently staying there or on the move - you will be the source of many great benefits for us.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
1. Ἐγὼ δέ σε καὶ ζῆν ἡγοῦμαι καὶ βιώσεσθαι πολὺν χρόνον τῶν θεῶν βουλομένων μὲν εἶναι μεγάλην ἐκείνην τὴν πόλιν, εἰδότων δὲ ὁπόσον τῇ πόλει τὸ σόν. 2. τούτου μὲν οὖν τοῖς πάντα δυναμένοις μελήσει· τῆς δὲ σῆς εἰκότως ἂν καὶ νῦν Ἰάσιος ἀπολαύσαι προνοίας, ἀνὴρ τῆς προτέρας ἁπανταχοῦ μεμνημένος καὶ ᾄδων καὶ λέγων, οἵων καὶ ὅσων τετύχηκεν. 3. ἐγὼ δὲ ἔγραψα μέν σοι πρότερον ὑπὲρ Ἰφικράτους καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῖς γράμμασιν ὤνησα, ἔπεμψα δὲ ἔναγχος ἐπιστολὴν Ἰφικράτει σοὶ καὶ ταύτην ἥξουσαν. ἐπιστέλλω δὲ καὶ νῦν λαβὼν μὲν οὐδεμίαν παρὰ σοῦ, πιστεύων δὲ φιλεῖσθαι καὶ πολλῶν ἐπιστολῶν τοῦτο νομίζων ἀντάξιον. 4. πεπείσμεθα δέ σε καὶ τῇ πρεσβείᾳ τῇ παρ' ἡμῶν καὶ μενούσῃ καὶ βαδιζούσῃ πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων αἴτιον ἀγαθῶν ἔσεσθαι.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch3 gemini flash v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/download/foerster-libanii-opera/Foerster%20%281922%29%2C%20Libanii%20opera%2011_djvu.xml
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