Letter 741: My first letter was an appeal for you to do justice by the son of my teacher.

LibaniusLeontius, rhetorician|c. 384 AD|Libanius|AI-assisted
education booksmonasticism

To Leontius. (362)

The first letter was an exhortation that you become just toward the teacher's son; this present one is partly praise of what you have done, and again an exhortation to abide by the same conduct.

For Gaudentius came to me, announcing his pleasure by his very countenance. Delighted, then, that he was beaming, I asked from what cause he was in such a state; and he said that Leontius had shown himself most just toward me among my pupils, and he recounted the honor shown to the boy and how he gained a double profit, both practicing his speaking and receiving payment.

Having said these things, the old man, lifting up his hand toward the gods, prayed that you might obtain from them, among other things, that your magistracy be set straight. In order, then, that he may always ask these things, do you too keep aiming thus, and acquire glory by your excellence in all matters.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Λεοντίῳ. (362)

Τὰ μὲν πρῶτα γράμματα παράκλησις ἦν γενέσθαι σε
δίκαιον εἰς τὸν παῖδα τοῦ διδασκάλου, τὰ οἱ νῦν ἔπαινός τι
ὧν ἐποίησας καὶ πάλιν παράκλησις τοῦ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμμένειν.

ὁ γάρ τοι Γαυδέντιος ἦλθεν ὡς ἐμὲ μηνύων τῷ προσώπῳ
τὴν ἡδονήν. ἡσθεὶς οὖν, ὅτι ἦν φαιδρός, ἠρόμην, ὅθεν εἴη
τοιοῦτος· ὁ δὲ μαθητῶν ἔφησεν εἰς ἐμὲ δικαιότατος
Λεόντιος, καὶ διῆλθε τὴν εἰς τὸν παῖδα τιμὴν καὶ ὡς διπλῆ
κερδαίνοι λέγειν τε μελετῶν καὶ λαμβάνων.

ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ
γέρων καὶ τὴν χεῖρα ἄρας πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὔξατό σοι παρ’
ἐκείνων τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὀρθοῦσθαι. ἴν’ οὖν ἐκεῖνος
ἀεὶ ταῦτα αἰτῇ, καὶ σὺ βάλλ’ οὕτως καὶ κτῶ δόξαν τῇ περὶ
πάντα ἀρετῇ.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern libanius retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/First1KGreek/blob/master/volume_xml/libanius_10.xml

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