From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch
To: Modestus
Date: ~359 AD
Context: A defense of a friend under investigation -- arguing that charges don't equal guilt.
I don't abandon friends when they're in trouble, the way most people do. In fact, I've stood by plenty of people who weren't even friends when they were in distress -- and that became the beginning of a friendship.
Pierius has been close to me for a long time and remains a priority now, and will even more so if further charges arise. I trust the testimony of years spent together over the word of people who are quick to accuse. Over a long period, he showed himself far more hungry for reputation than for money.
If everyone who's been accused has also been convicted, then yes, he's guilty and I'm guilty for helping him. But if it's true that some who fled were acquitted and some who prosecuted were punished, then there's nothing wrong with friends rallying to those under accusation -- since before honest judges, the charges can be overturned.
You would actually welcome it if men examined during their time in office turned out to be honest, so that you could be seen as the best of the best. The corrupt, of course, hope for the opposite -- thinking that other men's shame will cast a shadow over their own.
To Modestus (359/60)
I do not abandon my friends in times of trouble, as most people are accustomed to doing. Indeed, I have stood by many who were not even friends when they were in distress, so that this very act became the beginning of friendship between us.
Pierius has long been an intimate of mine, and he remains so now in his hour of need — even should the charges against him multiply. For I place greater trust in the record of his past life than in those who are quick to slander him, a record in which, over a long span, he showed himself far more desirous of reputation than of money.
Now then, if everyone who has been accused has also been convicted, then he is a villain — for he flees — and I am a villain for helping a fugitive. But if it has happened before now that a man under prosecution was acquitted and his accuser was punished instead, then there is nothing terrible in friends rallying to the side of the accused, since before just judges they will have the chance to dispose of the charges.
You yourself would even pray that those whose conduct in office is under scrutiny be found honest, so that you might be seen as the best among good men — the very opposite of what the wicked desire, who imagine they will cloak themselves in the disgrace of others.
Context:A defense of a friend under investigation -- arguing that charges don't equal guilt.
I don't abandon friends when they're in trouble, the way most people do. In fact, I've stood by plenty of people who weren't even friends when they were in distress -- and that became the beginning of a friendship.
Pierius has been close to me for a long time and remains a priority now, and will even more so if further charges arise. I trust the testimony of years spent together over the word of people who are quick to accuse. Over a long period, he showed himself far more hungry for reputation than for money.
If everyone who's been accused has also been convicted, then yes, he's guilty and I'm guilty for helping him. But if it's true that some who fled were acquitted and some who prosecuted were punished, then there's nothing wrong with friends rallying to those under accusation -- since before honest judges, the charges can be overturned.
You would actually welcome it if men examined during their time in office turned out to be honest, so that you could be seen as the best of the best. The corrupt, of course, hope for the opposite -- thinking that other men's shame will cast a shadow over their own.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.