Letter 418: After suffering many physical ailments -- having barely recovered from some and still bearing others -- I have one...
After suffering many physical ailments -- having barely recovered from some and still bearing others -- I have one consolation: my hopes for you. Do not imagine that people talk of anything else. The word everywhere is that very soon you will hold the position that has long been rightfully yours, and that the state will have its salvation.
They base this on two things: your virtue, and the emperor's ability to see who can actually save the cities.
But please, do not flee from office again when it approaches. That kind of evasion is not becoming. If you were destined to be a runaway, you have already played that role -- when you ran away from Rome.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἀνατολίῳ. (355)
Πόλλα κακὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα παθὼν καὶ τῶν μὲν μόλις
ἀπαλλαγείς, τὰ δὲ ἔτι φέρων ἕν ἔχω παραμύθιον τὰς ἐλπίδας
τὰς περὶ σέ. μὴ γὰρ οἴου τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἄλλο τι ᾄδειν ἡ
ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα ἔσται σοὶ μὲν σχῆμα πάλαι προσῆκον, τοῖς
δὲ πράγμασι σωτηρία.
ταύτην δὲ τεκμαίρονται δυοῖν, ἀρετῇ
τε σῇ καὶ τῷ τὸν βασιλέα δι’ ὧν ἔστι σώζειν τὰς πόλεις ὁρᾶν.
ἀλλ’ ὅπως μὴ πάλιν φύγῃς προσιοῦσαν ἀρχήν· οὐ γὰρ κα-
λόν τινα τοῦτον δρασμὸν μελετᾷς. εἰ γὰρ καὶ χρῆν γενέσθαι
δραπέτην, ἤδη γέγονας ἀπὸ τῆς ώμης δραπετεύσας.
Related Letters
Leo, the bishop, to the bishop Anatolius. Although I hope, beloved, you are devoted to every good work, yet that your activity may be rendered the more effective, it was needful and fitting to dispatch my brothers Lucentius the bishop and Basil the presbyter, as we promised, to ally themselves with you, beloved, that nothing may be done either ...
Leo, the bishop, to Anatolius, the bishop. Now that the light of Gospel Truth has been manifested, as we wished, through God's grace, and the night of most pestilential error has been dispelled from the universal Church, we are unspeakably glad in the Lord, because the difficult charge entrusted to us has been brought to the desired conclusion, ...
I have always admired your goodwill toward me, and I could never convince myself that you did this without some god...
May your sacrifices go well, and may you find favor with the gods -- with the leader of the Muses and with the god...
Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol.