Letter 946: Urging Hesychius to accept Theophilus' hospitality.
It is a great thing for me to do anything that can gladden Theophilus, and a great thing for him to have you stay with him now. He has spoken about this to both the gods and me—praying to them, and telling me that I must help him through my letters and not overlook him, for he could not bear to suffer such a slight. We therefore open the house of the good Theophilus to you and invite you into it. I believe the house itself, if it had a voice, would join us in calling you. Grant this favor to so many, and do not think it a strong argument that Theophilus did not stay at your house. For this 'equality' is not equal, since you had no reason then such as he has now. So do not flee the house as if you had an excuse, for you would have no just cause if you did. Set out for the halls of Menelaus, intending to repay a debt of gratitude. For Theophilus, like me, took care for your children, encouraging them to greater labors through his praise. It is only right that you return the payment. To him, the greatest reward would be for you to offer sacrifice to Zeus, the god of hospitality, in his home.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Μέγα μὲν ἐμοὶ τό τι ποιεῖν τῶν Θεόφιλον δυναμένων εὐφραίνειν, μέγα δὲ ἐκείνῳ τὸ καὶ νῦν σὲ καταλῦσαι παρ᾿ αὐτῷ. καὶ περὶ τούτου θεοῖς τε διελέχθη καὶ ἐμοί, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς εὐξάμενος, πρὸς ἐμὲ δὲ εἰπὼν ὡς δέοι με βοηθεῖν διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτὸν ὃ οὐκ ἂν ἐνέγκαι παθόντα. 2. ἀνοίγομεν δή σοι τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ χρηστοῦ Θεοφίλου καὶ καλοῦμεν εἰς αὐτήν. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν οἰκίαν, εἴπερ ἦν αὐτῇ φωνή, καὶ αὐτὴν ἂν μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν σε καλέσαι. 3. δὸς δὴ τοσούτοις τὴν χάριν μὴ νομίζων ἰσχυρὸν τὸ μὴ τὸν Θεόφιλον παρὰ σοὶ καταλῦσαι. τὸ γὰρ ἴσον τοῦτο οὐκ ἴσον οὐκ οὔσης αἰτίας σοὶ τῆς οὔσης τούτῳ τότε. 4. μὴ οὖν ὡς ἔχων ἀπολογίαν, εἰ φύγοις τὴν οἰκίαν, φεῦγε, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς οὐκ ἔξων, εἰ φύγοις, δίκαιον λόγον ἔλαυνε πρὸς τὰ τοῦ Μενελάου δώματα μέλλων καὶ χάριν ὀφειλομένην ἀποδώσειν. 5. Θεοφίλῳ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐμοὶ τῶν σῶν ἐμέλησε παίδων δι᾿ ἐπαίνων ἐπὶ μείζους παρακαλοῦντι πόνους. καὶ δεῖ δή σε τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδοῦναι. τῷ δ᾿ ἂν εἴη μέγιστος ἐν ἐκείνου σε θῦσαι τῷ Διὶ τῷ ξενίῳ.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch6 gemini flash ocr reviewed 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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