Letter 480
Libanius→Ὑγίνῳ|libanius
To Hyginus. (356 AD)
Wishing to secure for Malchus the best of what your city has to offer, how could I pass over you? You help your friends in the same ways as everyone else, but you bring something extra beyond the rest — you sustain their bodies with your art [i.e., as a physician].
So keep our companion in good health, and work with him to see that he obtains what he desires. A good man, as he surely is, desires only what is honorable and not difficult, and you have more than enough power to provide even that.
Ὑγίνῳ. (356)
Τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν παρ’ ὑμῖν Μάλχῳ προξενεῖν ἐθέλωv
πῶς ἔμελλον σὲ παρήσειν, ὃς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα τοῖς φίλοις ἧπερ
οἱ ἄλλοι βοηθεῖς, πλέον δέ τι παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους εἰσφέρεις ἀνἐ-
χων τῇ τέχνῃ τὰ σώματα;
τὸν οὖν ἑταῖρον ἡμῖν τήρει τε
ἐν ὑγείᾳ καὶ ὅπως ὧν ἐπιθυμεῖ τεύξεται συμπόνει. πάντως
δὲ ὁ μὲν ὢν ἀγαθὸς καλῶν τε ἐπιθυμεῖ καὶ οὐ χαλεπῶν, σοὶ
δὲ τοσαύτη δύναμις ὥστε κἂν ἐκείνοις ἀρκέσαι.
◆
To Hyginus. (356 AD)
Wishing to secure for Malchus the best of what your city has to offer, how could I pass over you? You help your friends in the same ways as everyone else, but you bring something extra beyond the rest — you sustain their bodies with your art [i.e., as a physician].
So keep our companion in good health, and work with him to see that he obtains what he desires. A good man, as he surely is, desires only what is honorable and not difficult, and you have more than enough power to provide even that.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.