Letter 855: Libanius praises Tatianus' patronage of Hesychius and cautiously asks for renewed letters while his own case awaits judgment.

Hesychius has an ample reward for the sweat of his journey: he will see your face. That will be enough for him, especially since everyone knows the goodwill you have shown him, a goodwill not far short of what comes from the gods. Just as no one among the Achaeans was unaware what Athena was to the man from Ithaca, so now no one is unaware what Tatianus is to Hesychius. He, then, would ask for nothing more; but you will not think it right to stop with what you have already given. Perhaps something else will be added, something worthy of your nature. May God bring that to completion. I have not hesitated to write to you again, though accusations were made against me over the matters from which I was released. I write not from any boldness, but because I trust that no wrong was done by me against the emperor's house. Your letters are an ornament to me; I know it, and I say it to everyone. But if they do not come to me until judgment is rendered about me, I will not blame the silence.

1. Ἔχει τῶν περὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἱδρώτων ἆθλον ἱκανὸν Ἡσύχιος τὴν σὴν ἰδεῖν κεφαλήν. καὶ τῷ μὲν τοῦτο ἀποχρήσει μετὰ τοῦ πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰδέναι τὴν εὔνοιαν ᾗ περὶ αὐτὸν κέχρησαι, τὴν οὐ πολὺ λειπομένην τῆς παρὰ τῶν θεῶν. ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἠγνόει τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἥτις ἦν ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ περὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἰθάκης, οὕτω νῦν οὐδείς, ὅστις Τατιανὸς περὶ τὸν Ἡσύχιον. 2. ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν οὐδὲν ἂν ζητήσαι πλέον, σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἀξιώσεις ἐν οἷς ἔδωκας στῆναι· προσέσται δὲ ἴσως τι καὶ ἕτερον τῆς σῆς φύσεως ἄξιον. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν θεὸς τελοίη· γράφειν δὲ οὐκ ὤκνησά σοι πάλιν ἐγκαλούμενος ἐφ’ οἷς ἀφείθην, θράσει μὲν οὐδενί, τῷ πεπιστευκέναι δὲ μηδὲν ἠδικῆσθαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ τὸν βασιλέως οἶκον. 3. ἡμῖν δὲ ὅτι μὲν κόσμος τὰ παρὰ σοῦ γράμματα, καὶ οἶδα καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας λέγω· τούτων δὲ ἡμῖν οὐκ ἐρχομένων, μέχρις ἂν ψῆφος ἐνεχθῇ περὶ ἡμῶν, οὐκ αἰτιασόμεθα τὴν σιωπήν.