Letter 998: A reassurance to a former student who hesitates to correspond with Libanius.
The man who urged you did well, and the man who obeyed did well too. If Skylacius is afraid to write to me, let him consider whether he is not insulting my school: once he was among those who won distinction there, passed through the highest posts, and now trembles to write lest he seem unworthy here. By writing, you would show that fear to be strange and empty, and would also show what kind of man you are in matters of justice. It seems to me that you, and all who now enjoy this office, please the gods because you are excellent, and enjoy this office because you please the gods. The cities, then, must serve swiftly and work together for the glory of noble Severianus.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Καὶ ὁ κελεύων καλῶς ἐκέλευσε καὶ ὁ πεισθεὶς καλῶς ἐπείσθη. Σκυλάκιος δὲ τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιστέλλειν δεδοικὼς σκοπείτω μὴ κακῶς λέγῃ τὰς ἡμετέρας διατριβάς, εἰ τῶν εὐδοκιμούντων ἐν αὐταῖς ποτε ὧν διὰ τῶν μεγίστων ἐλθὼν νῦν ἐπιστέλλων τρέμει μὴ κακὸς ἐνταῦθα εἶναι δόξῃ. 2. καὶ γὰρ ἂν καὶ μάταιον δεικνύοις τοῖς γράμμασι τοῦτό τε αὐτὸ καλῶς ποιῶν καὶ ὅστις εἴης ἐν τοῖς δικαίοις δεικνύων τοῖς γράμμασι. δοκεῖς δέ μοι καὶ σὺ καὶ πάντες οἱ τῆς νῦν ἀρχῆς ἀπολαύοντες διὰ μὲν τὸ εἶναι βέλτιστοι τοῖς θεοῖς ἀρέσκειν, διὰ δὲ τὸ τοῖς θεοῖς ἀρέσκειν τῆσδε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀπολαύειν. 3. δεῖ δὴ τὰς πόλεις πάντα ὀξέως ὑπηρετεῖν καὶ συμπράττειν εἰς δόξαν τῷ γενναίῳ Σευηριανῷ.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch9 t259 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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