Letter 884: Libanius asks Elebichus to adjust the public-service burden for his student Eusebius, whose family wealth has been damaged.
I care deeply about all my former students, as I feel this honors both Hermes and the Muses. I am especially concerned for Eusebius, who shared in my training than almost anyone else; his hard work, natural talent, and good fortune made him a first-rate orator. I had actually prepared a speech intended to persuade him to go into teaching, but he followed the advice of his mother and uncle and came here [to enter public life]. He considers it a great honor to be a member of the high council, but since he lost a great deal of money during that unfortunate business with the harassment from Prophetius, he is asking to fulfill his public duties [liturgies] based on his actual financial reality, rather than the reputation of his estate. In this way, he can be useful to the city without being completely ruined.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Πάντων μὲν ἐμοὶ μέλει τῶν παρ' ἐμοὶ πεφοιτηκότων νομίζοντι τῷ τε Ἑρμῇ καὶ ταῖς Μούσαις κεχαρισμένα ποιεῖν, μάλιστα δὲ τοῦ μάλιστα ἡμῶν μετεσχηκότος Εὐσεβίου, ὃν ἄκρον ἀπέφηνε ῥήτορα καὶ σπουδὴ καὶ φύσις καὶ τύχη. 2. καί μοι πεποίηται μὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν λόγος ἄγειν αὐτὸν βουλόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ παιδεύειν νέους, μητρὶ δὲ καὶ θείῳ πειθόμενος ἧκε ταύτην ἣν ἧκε. καὶ μέγα μὲν ποιεῖται τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου κοινωνεῖν συνεδρίου, χρημάτων δὲ αὐτῷ πολλῶν οἰχομένων ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς ἐκείνοις, ἃ αὐτῷ παρὰ τῆς Προφητίου γέγονεν ἐπηρείας, ἀξιοῖ λειτουργεῖν οὐ πρὸς τὴν δόξαν τῆς οὐσίας, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. οὕτω γὰρ ἂν τῇ τε πόλει χρήσιμος εἴη καὶ αὐτὸς οὐ καταπέσοι.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch3 gemini flash v1.
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To the Philosopher [Hypatia].