Letter 886: Libanius asks an official to protect his most brilliant student from an excessive public service burden following the family's financial ruin.
You were interested in hearing how things are going with us, specifically about the state of my students and who the standout is. You should know that it is this young Eusebius. He has a command of ancient literature like no other, and he composes speeches that rival the classics - some of which are preserved in memory, while others are committed to his tablets. Hearing this, you should be as happy for Eusebius and the school as I am. You would have felt the same joy I did in producing such a student if you had been the teacher yourself. You are also aware of what happened next: the 'labyrinths' created by Prophetius and the many blows he dealt to the family's estate, turning a once-great fortune into a small one. Even so, the family still appears wealthy and hasn't yet been completely drained. Since you know the whole story, you must act as Eusebius's advocate. Do not stand by and allow a public service burden to be imposed on him that would be a disgrace to even mention.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Ἦν ἐπιμελές σοι τά τε ἄλλα τῶν ἡμετέρων εἰδέναι καὶ ὅπως ἡμῖν τὰ τῶν φοιτητῶν ἔχει καὶ ὅστις ὁ κορυφαῖος. ἦν οὖν ἀκούειν σοι τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν Εὐσέβιον ἔχοντά τε τῶν ἀρχαίων ὅσα οὐχ ἕτερος ἐν αὑτῷ καὶ ποιοῦντα λόγους ἐοικότας ἐκείνοις, τοὺς μὲν μνήμῃ σωζομένους, τοὺς δ' εἰς γραμμάτιον καὶ κηρὸν ἐρχομένους. 2. καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούων συνέχαιρες μὲν Εὐσεβίῳ, συνέχαιρες δὲ τῷ χορῷ, συνέχαιρες δὲ ἐμοί. καὶ ἦν ἂν ἥσθης ἡδονὴν αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ διδάσκων, ταύτην ἤδου τοιαῦτα ἐμοῦ δεδωκότος. 3. οἶσθα δὴ καὶ τὰπὶ τούτοις, τοὺς Προφητίου λαβυρίνθους καὶ ὅσοις δόρασι τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῖς ἔτρωσε μικρὰν εἰς λόγον χρημάτων αὐτὴν ἐκ πάνυ μεγάλης ποιῶν, ἀλλ' ἔτι δοκεῖ πλουτεῖν καὶ οὐ κεκενῶσθαι πάνυ τοῦτο παθοῦσα. 4. σὲ τοίνυν τὸν ἅπαντα εἰδότα δεῖ συνήγορον Εὐσεβίῳ γενέσθαι καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν λειτουργίαν γιγνομένην, ὃ μηδὲ εἰπεῖν καλόν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch3 gemini flash v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/download/foerster-libanii-opera/Foerster%20%281922%29%2C%20Libanii%20opera%2011_djvu.xml
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