Letter 538: Gaudentius shares with me the work of teaching the young.

LibaniusAndronicus, a general|c. 365 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
friendship

To Andronicus.

Gaudentius shares with me the work of teaching the young. This man Arabius is connected to him and has family there who are poor beyond what they deserve. Knowing that you are my friend, that you care for your own people, and that you are in a position to do me a favor, he asks me to move you to help Antiochus and Alexander. Of these two, one is his father-in-law and the other his nephew -- the first completely destitute, the second a young man in hardship.

You will learn the details of their wrongs from them directly. By resolving their trouble, you will uphold the laws -- which I believe matter to you above all else -- and do me a favor at the same time.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (356/57)

Γαυδέντιος ἡμῖν κοινωνεῖ τῶν περὶ τοὺς νέους
Ἀράβιος δὲ οὑτοσὶ καὶ ἔστιν αὐτῷ γένος ἐκεῖ, πενόμενοι παρὰ
τὴν ἀξίαν. γνοὺς οὖν ὡς εἴης μοι φίλος καὶ τῶν μὲν οἰκείων

φροντίζων, ἐμοὶ δὲ ἐπιτάττειν ἔχων, κινεῖ σε δι’ ἐμοῦ βοηθεῖν
Ἀντιόχῳ τε καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ. τούτοιν δὲ ὁ μὶν αὐτῷ κηδεστής,
ὁ δὲ ἀδελφιδοῦς, ὁ μὲν ἄπορος παντελῶς, ὁ δὲ ἐν ἀπορίᾳ
νέος.

ἃ μὶν οὖν ἀδικοῦνται, παρ’ αὐτῶν εἴσῃ· λύσας δὲ
αὐτοῖς τὸ κακὸν τοὺς νόμους τε βεβαιώσεις, ὧν, οἶμαι, σοὶ
μάλιστα μέλει, καὶ ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν χαριῇ.

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