Letter 448: I have seen the arrows in your speeches, and I would not say "keep shooting like that.

LibaniusHeraclianus|c. 356 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
illness

I have seen the arrows in your speeches, and I would not say "keep shooting like that." Rather: stop shooting. You know the saying about what kind of words you are using.

And if anyone speaks ill of me, do not let that make war for you -- it does not even pain me.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Ἡρακλειανῷ. (355)

Εἶδον ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου τὰ βέλη καὶ οὐκ ἂν φαίην·
βάλλ᾿ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον· πέπαυσο βάλλων. οἶσθα γὰρ
ὁπποῖόν εἴπῃσθα.

ἐμὲ δὲ εἴ τις λέγοι κακῶς, μὴ
τοῦτό σοι ποιείτω πόλεμον, ὃ μηδὲ ἡμᾶς ἀλγύνει.

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