Letter 651
Libanius→Ἀκακίῳ|libanius
To Acacius. (361 AD)
Were we asking for something unjust, and is that why we failed? Or was the matter just, but we who ask are worthless? Or has it already been done, but I cannot yet know?
Resolve this uncertainty, and consider that even learning we were troubling you in vain will be a gain for us. We will be freed from hanging in suspense for nothing, and perhaps we will turn to another plan.
So if you will not be shamed for our sake, at least for the noble Eumolpius — either grant the favor if you have not yet done so, or let us know that you have, or write to say that you truly will.
Ἀκακίῳ. (361)
Ἀρ’ ἀδίκου τινὸς ἠξιοῦμεν τυχεῖν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπε-
τυγχάνομεν; ἢ τὸ μὲν πρᾶγμα δίκαιον, οἱ δὲ αἰτοῦντες οὐ-
δενὸς ἄξιοι; <ἢ> πέπρακται μὲν ἐκεῖνο, γνῶναι δὲ οὕπω
δύνημαι;
λῦσον δὴ τὴν ἀπορίαν καὶ νόμισον καὶ τὸ ὡς
μάτην ἠνωχλοῦμεν μαθεῖν κέρδος ἡμῖν ἔσεσθαι. τοῦ τε γὰρ
ἐκκρέμασθαι τηνάλλως ἀπαλλαξόμεθα καὶ ἴσως ἐπ’ ἄλλην βου-
Λὴν ἥξομεν.
αἰσχυνθεὶς οὖν εἰ μὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ τὸν γεν-
ναῖον Εὐμόλπιον ἢ δὸς τὴν χάριν, εἰ μήπω δέδωκας, ἢ δή-
λωσον ὅτι δέδωκας, ἢ ὅτι ὄντως δώσεις ἐπίστειλον.
◆
To Acacius. (361 AD)
Were we asking for something unjust, and is that why we failed? Or was the matter just, but we who ask are worthless? Or has it already been done, but I cannot yet know?
Resolve this uncertainty, and consider that even learning we were troubling you in vain will be a gain for us. We will be freed from hanging in suspense for nothing, and perhaps we will turn to another plan.
So if you will not be shamed for our sake, at least for the noble Eumolpius — either grant the favor if you have not yet done so, or let us know that you have, or write to say that you truly will.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.