Letter 126: I think you already know the excellent Artemion.
I think the excellent Artemius is by now known to you; for he is the sort of man who draws others to himself, and you are a formidable hunter of good men. But if this has not yet been accomplished, let it be accomplished now. And I, who bring you together, am perhaps not unskilled in the harmony that pertains to such matters.
Many things commend Artemius: the distinction of his family, his power in speech, his moderate character, and the fact that he loves the magistrates while they are present and praises them once they have departed.
But he also performs that very service which you seek, for our affairs have been taken up by him, so that you will no more say that you yourself do this than you will find that he does it.
Give him, then, as his reward, your own self in return for his services to us. And it will seem to you that, having received the confidence to be bold, he has become more circumspect. And yet, even if he should trouble you, you at least will bear it for my sake. But he will not trouble you.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Εὐθηρίῳ. (357/8)
Οἶμαι μὲν ἤδη σοι γνώριμον εἶναι τὸν χρηστὸν Ἀρτέ-
μιον· ἐκεῖνός τε γὰρ οἷος ἕλκειν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν σύ τε δεινὸς θη-
ρατὴς ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν. εἰ δ’ οὖν οὔπω τοῦτο πέπρακται, πρα-
χθήτω νῦν. ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ συνάγων ἴσως οὐκ ἄπειρος τῆς περὶ
ταῦτα ἁρμονίας.
Ἀρτέμιον δὲ πολλὰ ποιεῖ πρῶτον, γένους
ἐπιφάνεια, λόγων δύναμις, ἦθος μέτριον, τὸ τοὺς ἄρχοντας
παρόντας τε φιλεῖν καὶ ἀπελθόντας ἐπαινεῖν.
ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνο
μέντοι τὸ ἔργον ὃ σὺ ζητεῖς ἐργάζεται, τὰ γὰρ ἡμέτερα ᾕρη-
τᾶι, ὥστ’ οὐ μᾶλλον σὺ φήσεις τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἡ ’κεῖνον εὑρή-
σεις.
δὸς δὴ μισθὸν αὐτῷ τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς σεαυτόν. δόξει
δέ σοι λαβὼν τὸ θαρρεῖν εὐλαβέστερος γεγονέναι. καίτοι κἂν
ἐνοχλῇ, σύ γε οἴσεις ἐμὴν χάριν. ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐνοχλήσει.
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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