Letter 129: Goodwill is enough for friendship, but Procopius does not want favors to become financial harm.
For those eager about friendship, I think goodwill is enough, along with readiness to serve the needs of familiar friends. To spend from one's own house besides is neither generally just nor honorable for the one who receives the favor. The person once harmed becomes more hesitant about a second need.
Even if you would not suffer this, being always confirmed by the law of friendship, still shame holds me back from writing on behalf of what seems right. So if you want me always to rejoice in frankness toward you, you will not hesitate to accept a debt that is owed.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Διοδώρωι Τοῖς περὶ φιλίαν ἐσπουδακόσιν ἀρκεῖν ἡγοῦμαι τὴν εὔνοιαν καὶ τὸ ταῖς τῶν συνήθων χρείαις ὑπουργεῖν ἑτοιμότερον, τὸ δὲ καὶ προσαναλίσκειν οἴκοθεν οὔτ' ἄλλως δίκαιον οὔτε τῷ δεξαμένῳ τὴν χάριν καλόν. ὁ γὰρ ἅπαξ ζημιωθεὶς περὶ δευτέραν χρείαν καθέστηκεν ὀκνηρότερος. ὅπερ εἰ καὶ μὴ πάθοιτε, νόμῳ φιλίας ἀεὶ βεβαιούμενοι, ἀλλ' οὖν ἐγὼ τοῦ γράφειν ὑπὲρ τῶν δοκούντων ὑπ' αἰδοῦς ἀνακόπτομαι. ὅθεν εἴ με βούλεσθε τῇ πρὸς ὑμᾶς παρρησίᾳ χαίρειν ἀεί, οὐκ ὀκνήσετε χρέος λαβεῖν ὀφειλόμενον.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern procopius gaza batch8 matia greek v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.matia.gr/pisth/pdf/pg_migne/Procopius_of_Gaza_PG_87a-87c/Epistulae.pdf
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