Letter 86

From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch To: Clearchus Date: ~359 AD Context: A pointed letter sending a trusted servant as a test of Clearchus's loyalty -- with a literary allusion to Homer. Here -- Zoilus has come to you too. He serves his master in the most valuable ways, but necessity has forced his dispatch. It seemed right to take something away from the household staff here in order to set things in order there. I'm afraid, though, that just as my many letters have gone unanswered, Zoilus too may have come in vain -- that you've cast us aside. But since the boy's presence will serve as a more thorough test of your intentions, he has come to find out whether the great Clearchus has changed and become a Rheginus -- our very own Diomedes [a Homeric reference: Diomedes was notoriously fierce in turning against former allies].

**To Clearchus** (359) Look — Zoilus too has come to you, serving his master in matters of the greatest importance, yet sent away under the pressure of circumstances. For it seemed necessary to deprive the household here of his service in order to set affairs in order there. And yet I fear that, just as my many letters have been in vain, so too Zoilus may have arrived for nothing — so completely have you cast us aside. But since the boy's presence will serve as a more exacting test of your intentions, he has come to learn whether the noble Clearchus has changed and become for us a Rheginus — a very Diomedes.

Κλεάρχῳ. (359) Ἴδου σοι καὶ Ζωίλος ἥκει τὰ πλείστου μὲν ἄξια τῷ δε- 5 σπότῃ διακονῶν, τῇ δὲ ἀνάγκῃ τῶν περιεστηκότων ἀποστα- λείς. τῆς γὰρ ἐνταῦθα θεραπείας ἐδόκει δεῖν ἀφελεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ τἀκεῖ καταστήσασθαι. καίτοι φοβοῦμαι μὲν μὴ καθάπερ τὰ πολλὰ παρ’ ἡμῶν γράμματα καὶ Ζωίλος ᾖ μάτην ἀφιγμέ- νος, οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἀπέρριψας· ἀλλ’, ἐπειδὴ γένοιτ’ ἂν ἀκρι- βεστἐρα βάσανος τῆς σῆς γνώμης ἡ παρουσία τοῦ παιδός, ἥκει μαθησόμενος, εἰ Κλέαρχος ὁ καλὸς μεταβέβληται καὶ γέγονεν ἡμῖν Ῥηγῖνος ὁ Διομήδης.