Libanius→Aristainetus; and separately to Silanus|libanius
To Aristainetus. (355)
What a fine thing is about to begin -- something that deserves to be old rather than new: now Spectatus will be a guest-friend of Aristainetus. Before this you barely knew each other, but soon the loss of time will be apparent, and as you come to admire each other, you will blame the wasted years.
What this man has heard about you is of such a kind that he comes already in love with you. And what you will find in him is such that you will not bear his departure.
Let the beginning of this friendship mark the end of the grief you nurture over your wife. He will not perform the feat of Heracles [who brought Alcestis back from the dead] -- and I suspect not even Heracles really did that; the story of Alcestis rising is a myth. But whatever power a mortal man has to offer consolation, he will spare nothing.
What a fine thing is about to begin -- something that deserves to be old rather than new: now Spectatus will be a guest-friend of Aristainetus. Before this you barely knew each other, but soon the loss of time will be apparent, and as you come to admire each other, you will blame the wasted years.
What this man has heard about you is of such a kind that he comes already in love with you. And what you will find in him is such that you will not bear his departure.
Let the beginning of this friendship mark the end of the grief you nurture over your wife. He will not perform the feat of Heracles [who brought Alcestis back from the dead] -- and I suspect not even Heracles really did that; the story of Alcestis rising is a myth. But whatever power a mortal man has to offer consolation, he will spare nothing.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.