Letter 91

From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch To: Pannychius, newly appointed provincial governor Date: ~359 AD Context: A long letter of introduction, combining an apology for not meeting in person with a strong recommendation for Pelagius. That I wasn't able to meet you and make your acquaintance while you were here in Antioch -- for that I blame my preoccupation with my students. And I suspect it would have been pleasant for you too to see me and talk before taking up your governorship, but the sheer volume of worries that come with a new command, even before you reach the provinces, must have kept you busy with the prefect. It makes sense, then, that we should take the second-best course -- having missed the calm seas, as the proverb goes, we take to the oars and write letters instead. I'm so confident that you'll be a friend, and that you'll be pleased by my letters and will respond in kind, that -- as though we were already old acquaintances -- I don't hesitate to ask a favor in this very first letter. What I wouldn't have been ashamed to ask in person, it would be wrong of me not to put in writing. Pelagius ranks among the first families along the Euphrates in both birth and general distinction -- I think even the Euphrates itself would say so, if it could talk. He was my fellow student, and we delighted in each other's company. His character won even more praise than my own -- I won't deny it, since I consider that too a credit to me...

**To Pannychius** (359) That I was unable to meet you and make your acquaintance when you were here, I blame on my preoccupation with my students. And for your part, too, it would perhaps not have been unpleasant to see me and converse before taking up your office — but you were prevented, I think, by the multitude of cares you had concerning the prefect, cares imposed by your appointment before you even set foot in the provinces. It is reasonable, then, that we who are pained at not having met should resort to the "second sailing," and that, having missed the wind, we should take to the oars and write letters. I am so confident that I shall have you as a friend, that you will take pleasure in my letters and will immediately return the favor in kind, that as though we were old acquaintances I do not hesitate even in this first letter to ask a favor. For what I would not have been ashamed to say to you in person, I would do wrong not to write. Pelagius — that he ranks among the foremost in birth and in every other distinction among the people of the Euphrates region, I think even the Euphrates itself would declare, were it given a voice. He was my student, and we delighted in one another. His character, moreover, was especially admired — for I shall not deny it, since I consider it a credit to myself that I was seen to take pleasure in a man of such a nature. And indeed his fairness of spirit has grown with him, a quality recognized no less by all the Syrians through whose lands he has traveled — and he has traveled through a great many — when he served as ambassador and by his own character won a reputation finer than his birth alone conferred. So much so that I believe in a democracy he would surely have been crowned with honors for this service. But the greatest thing is this: such quickness of mind and such gentleness — I do not know when I have seen the two united in any other man. And yet, how can a tranquil disposition be keen in judgment? And how can a sharper temperament not be turbulent? But this man has blended both and persuaded them to dwell together, possessing a calm of mind joined with sound counsel. In finding what is needed, he is second to none; in the other quality, he is altogether the best. He knows the right moment for speaking and for silence, if anyone does. He knows how to praise a good governor and how to spare one who is not. He preserves his ancestral property while not encroaching on that of his neighbors. You yourself could say all this and more to another man, for surely the helmsman knows the sailor, and the chorus-leader knows the dancers. This dancer, then, such as he is, I know you will take under your care — granting a favor to good men, for everyone is concerned for him, and teaching your subjects that whoever pursues virtue stands higher in your esteem than those who do not love it. As for me, I shall not repay your kindness with deeds — for deeds are not my domain — but in speaking as one ought about your deeds, I shall never cease. And I shall say that your fortune is worthy of those labors and those speeches: from the schools of rhetoric you came to the council chamber, where you prevailed and showed yourself the orator; from the council chamber you have come to governing, and Justice sits beside you. We, for our part, both remember you and join in prayers for you. And you — remember your ancestor Minos. Or rather, you continue to remember him, which is why affairs of state have been set right, and why we are able to say of you the very thing we longed to say.

Παννυχίῳ. (359) Ὅτι σοι μὴ οἷός τε ἐγενόμην ἐνταῦθα συμμίξας γενἐ- σθαι γνώριμος, ἐγκαλῶ τῇ διὰ τοὺς νέους ἀσχολίᾳ. καὶ σοὶ δέ που τάχ’ ἴσως ἦν οὐκ ἀηδὲς ἰδεῖν τέ με καὶ διαλεχθῆναι πρὶν ἢ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἅψασθαι, διεκώλυσε δέ, οἶμαι, τὸ πλῆθος τῶν φροντίδων, ἃς ὑπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς πρὶν ἐπιβῆναι τῶν πόλεων περὶ τὸν ὕπαρχον εἶχες. ἔχει οὖν λόγον ἀλγοῦντας τῷ μὴ συγγεγονέναι χρῆσθαι τῷ δευτέρῳ <πλῷ> καὶ τοῦ ἁμαρτόντας ἐπὶ τὰς κώπας χωρεῖν καὶ ἐπιστέλλειν. οὕτω δέ σε ἐλπίζω φίλον ἕξειν καὶ τοῖς τε ἐμοῖς ἡσθήσεσθαι γράμ- μασιν αὐτόν τε εὐθὺς ταῦτα μιμήσεσθαι, ὥστε ὡς ἂν πάλαι συνήθης ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις γράμμασι καὶ χάριν αἰτεῖν οὐκ ὀκνῶ· ἃ γὰρ πρὸς παρόντα οὐκ ἂν ᾐσχυνόμην λέγειν, ἀδι- κοίην <ἂν> μὴ γράφων. Πελάγιος ὅτι μὲν γένους τε καὶ τῆς ἄλλης λαμπρότητος εἰς τὰ πρῶτα τελεῖ τῶν περὶ τὸν Εὐφράτην, κἂν αὐτὸν οἶμαι τὸν Εὐφράτην εἰπεῖν λαβόντα φωνήν, ἐμοὶ δὲ συνεφοίτησε καὶ ἐχαίρομεν ἀλλήλοις. ἐπῃνεῖτο δὲ μᾶλλον ὁ τοῦδε τρόπος, οὐ γὰρ ἀρνήσομαι νομίζων καὶ τοῦτο ἐμαυτοῦ καλόν, εἰ τῷ τοιούτῳ τὴν φύσιν χαίρων ἐφαι- νόμην. καὶ δῆτα αὐτῷ συνηυξήθη τὸ τῆς ἐπιεικείας, ἣν οὐχ ἧττον Σύρων ἐγνώκασι πάντες δι’ ὅσων ἦλθεν, ἦλθε δὲ διὰ πλείστων, ἡνίκα ἐπρέσβευσε καὶ κατεσκεύασε τοῖς αὑτοῦ τρόποις δόξαν τὴν ἀμείνω τῷ γένει. ὥστε μοι πάντως ἂν ἐν δημοκρατίαις καὶ στεφανωθῆναι δοκεῖ τοῦτο εὖ πεποιηκώς. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἀγχίνοιαν γὰρ καὶ πρᾳότητα τοσαύτην ἑκα- τέραν ἐπ’ ἄλλου του συνελθοῦσαν οὐκ οἶδα, καίτοι τὸ μὲν ἡσύχιον πῶς οὐκ ὀξὺ λογίσασθαι; τὸ δὲ ὀξύτερον ἐπιεικῶς καὶ ταραχῶδες. ἀλλ’ οὗτός γε ἐκέρασεν ἄμφω καὶ συνοικεῖν ἔπεισεν ἡσυχίαν γνώμης μετ’ εὐβουλίας κεκτημένος, ἐντεῦθεν εὑρεῖν τὸ δέον οὐδενὸς ὕστερος, τῷ δὲ ἑτέρῳ πάντως κράτιστος, λόγου καὶ σιωπῆς καιρόν, εἴπερ τις, ἐπεγνωκώς, ἄρχοντα ἀγα- θὸν μὲν ἐπαινέσαι, τοῦ δὲ οὐ τοιούτου φείσασθαι <εἰδώς>, κτήματα τὰ πατρῷα μὲν διαφυλάττων, τὰ δὲ τῶν πλησίον οὐ περικόπτων. αὐτὸς ἂν πρὸς ἄλλον εἴποις καὶ ταῦτα καὶ πλείω· τὸν γὰρ ναύτην οἶδέ που ὁ κυβερνήτης καὶ τοὺς χο- ρευτὰς ὁ κορυφαῖος. τοῦτον οὖν τὸν τοιοῦτον χορευτὴν οἶδα ὅτι δι’ ἐπιμελείας ποιήσῃ χάριν τε διδοὺς τοῖς χρηστοῖς, ἅπασι γὰρ τοῦδε μέλει, καὶ διδάσκων τοὺς ἀρχομένους, ὅτι ὅστις ἀρετὴν διώκει, πρότερος παρὰ σοὶ τῶν ἐκείνην οὐκ ἀγαπών- τῶν. ἐγὼ δὲ ἔργῳ μὲν οὐκ ἀμείψομαί σου τὴν χάριν, οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἔργοις τά γε ἐμά, λέγων δὲ ἃ δεῖ περὶ τῶν σῶν ἔργων οὔποτε παύσομαι. ἐρῶ δέ, ὡς ἀξία γε τῶν τε πόνων ἐκείνων καὶ τῶν λόγων ἡ τύχη ἐκ μὲν μουσείων ἐπὶ τὸ βουλεύειν ἐλθὼν ἐκράτεις καὶ ἐδείκνυς τὸν ῥήτορα, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ βουλεύειν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄρχειν ἥκεις καὶ πάρεδρος ἡ Δίκη. ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν σοῦ καὶ μεμνήμεθα καὶ συνευχόμεθα, σὺ δ’ ἡμῖν τοῦ προ- γόνου μεμνῆσθαι τοῦ Μίνω, μᾶλλον δὲ μεμνημένος διατε- λεῖς, ὅθεν ὤρθωται μὲν τὰ καιρῶν, ἡμῖν δὲ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν τι περὶ σοῦ τοιοῦτον ὁποῖον ἐπεθυμοῦμεν.