Letter 151: A good witness praises Sozomen's self-control and zeal for words.

Procopius of GazaSozomen, correspondent of Procopius of Gaza|c. 515 AD|Procopius of Gaza|From Gaza, Palaestina Prima|AI-assisted
late antique Greek letters; Sozomen; Caesarius; students; self-control; praise; education
Procopius turns a report about a former student into praise for student, reporter, and teacher alike.

Wise Caesarius gave me no ordinary pleasure when he told me of your zeal. As a good man brought up with words, he gave me praise that was pure and without envy, smiling and sharing my delight in my offspring. I congratulated you on the praises, him on his intention, and myself on my fortune, if a good man testified that those who study with me are well regarded. Keep advancing toward virtue, adorned with self-control, and give those who report about you material for still greater praises.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Σωζομένωι Οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἡμῖν ἡδονὴν ἐνεποίησεν ὁ σοφὸς Καισάρειος τὴν σὴν σπουδὴν ἀφηγούμενος. οἷα γὰρ χρηστὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ τοῖς λόγοις συντεθραμμένος ἀνεπίφθονον ἡμῖν καὶ καθαρὸν ἐδίδου τὸν ἔπαινον, μειδιῶν τε ἅμα καὶ συνηδόμενος ἐμοὶ τῆς γονῆς. ἐγὼ δὲ σὲ μὲν ἐμακάρισα τῶν ἐπαίνων, ἐκεῖνον δὲ τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἐμαυτὸν δὲ τῆς τύχης, εἰ τοὺς παρ' ἡμᾶς φοιτῶντας εὐδοκιμεῖν ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς ἐμαρτύρησεν. ἀλλ' ἐπιδίδου πρὸς ἀρετὴν τῇ σωφροσύνῃ κοσμούμενος καὶ μειζόνων ἐπαίνων ὑποθέσεις δίδου τοῖς ἀπαγγέλλουσιν.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern procopius gaza batch9 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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