Letter 616
Libanius→Θεμιστίῳ|libanius
To Themistius. (361 AD)
I know you were disappointed at not meeting Acacius — both for other reasons and because you were unable to accomplish what you knew we very much desired. And the fallback option doesn't seem available either: I mean delivering the letter to Maximus.
So explain to us, my good friend, what happened to that letter — so that we can either blame the one who received it but won't admit to it, or else stop asking favors of you as if we have been neglected.
Θεμιστίῳ. (361)
Οἶδα ὡς ἠθύμησας οὐκ ἐντυχὼν Ἀκακίῳ τῶν τε ἄλλων
εἴνεκα καὶ ὅτι ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔπραξας ὧν ᾔδεις σφόδρα ἐπιθυ-
μοῦντας· ἀλλὰ οὐδὲ ὁ δεύτερος ἡμῖν φαίνεται πλοῦς, ὁ δὲ ἦν
Μαξίμῳ δοθῆναι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν.
δίδασκε οὖν, ὦ ’γαθέ,
τὴν περὶ τὰ γράμματα τύχην, ὅπως ἢ τὸν λαβόντα μέν, οὐχ
ὁμολογοῦντα δὲ μεμφώμεθα ἢ παυσώμεθά σε χάριν αἰτοῦντες
ὡς ἀπημελημένοι.
◆
To Themistius. (361 AD)
I know you were disappointed at not meeting Acacius — both for other reasons and because you were unable to accomplish what you knew we very much desired. And the fallback option doesn't seem available either: I mean delivering the letter to Maximus.
So explain to us, my good friend, what happened to that letter — so that we can either blame the one who received it but won't admit to it, or else stop asking favors of you as if we have been neglected.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.