Letter 878: Libanius writes to Photius about Eusebius's visit, praising Photius's character.
Once again, you are seeing the people you most want to see - the leading citizens of our city, who are there to honor an Emperor who is truly worthy of crowns, a man who has achieved a great victory with speed and power. Eusebius was called to join this journey, and though he said he wasn't quite up to the task, he overcame all obstacles to get there. His only reason for going was to see the excellent Photius. This younger man is quite taken with his elder. This isn't surprising, as he is in love with your soul, not your body. If someone asks him when he returns what he gained from such a long journey, he will simply say, 'I saw Photius,' and no one will be able to find fault with that.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
1. Πάλιν ὁρᾷς οὓς μάλιστα ἐθέλεις, τοὺς ἄκρους τῶν τῇδε πολιτευομένων, στεφανοῦντας ἄξιον βασιλέα στεφάνων καὶ νενικηκότα καὶ μεγάλην δύναμιν καὶ ταχέως. 2. Εὐσέβιος δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ὁδὸν καλούμενος ἔφασκε μὲν οὐ πάνυ τοῦτο δύνασθαι, ἔμελλε δὲ καὶ τῶν κωλυόντων κρατήσας αὐτῶν ἀφίξεσθαι κατ' ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, ὅπως δὲ τὸν χρηστὸν θεάσαιτο Φώτιον· ἐρᾷ γὰρ δὴ πρεσβυτέρου νεώτερος. 3. καὶ ἴσως θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· ἐρᾷ γὰρ ψυχῆς, οὐ σώματος. ἀλλὰ κἂν αὐτὸν ἔρηταί τις ἥκοντα παρ' ὑμῶν· σοὶ δὲ δὴ τί γεγένηται παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τούτων σταθμῶν; Φώτιον εἶδον, ἐρεῖ, καὶ ὁ μεμψόμενος οὐκ ἔσται.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch3 gemini flash v1.
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