Letter 1015: A playful letter about hospitality, charming self-control, and fine stolen journeys.
The admirable Rhetorius filled us with delight when he spoke about you. He described that table of yours that welcomes everyone: what you say as host, what you listen to, and how that gentleness of yours is firmly settled in you, unharmed by your present rank, which has made clear that one can be self-controlled without losing charm. He also reported your fine thefts, the good journeys you steal. Do not stop stealing such things. They will please a friend and make you better yourself. And send the young men you said you would send, unless you have some complaint against what comes from us; you know, at least, that truthfulness is necessary.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
᾿Αβλαβίῳ. (891)
1. Εὐφροσύνης ἡμᾶς ἐνέπλησεν ὁ ϑαυμάσιος “Ἰητόιος ἐν
τοῖς περὶ σοῦ λόγοις τράπεξάν τε λέγων ἐκείνην τὴν ἅπαντας
χαλοῦσαν καὶ οἷα μὲν εἴποις ἑστιῶν, οἷα δὲ ἀκούσαις, καὶ ὡς
ἐνίδρυταί σοι τὸ ἥμερον ἐκεῖνο μηδὲν ἀδικηϑὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ
παρόντος σχήματος δῆλόν σου πεποιηκότος ὡς ἔστι μετὰ
χαρίτων σωφρονεῖν. 3. ἀπήγγειλε δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ κλοπάς σου
καλάς, αἷς κλέπτεις ὁδοὺς καλάς. καὶ μὴ παύσαιό γε τὰ τοι-
αὕτα κλέπτων, ἀφ᾽ ὧν φίλῳ τε χαριῇ καὶ σαυτὸν ἀμείνω ποι-
ἥσεις, 8. τοὺς νέους δὲ οὺς ἔφησϑα πέμψειν πέμψον, εἰ μή
. ἤπετο τὰκ κα κεὶςς ἐφ Ἐν Εν Φε ε ᾿
τι τοῖς παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐγκαλεῖς" τοῦ μὲν γὰρ δεῖν ἀληϑεύειν τὴν
ἀνάγκην οἶσϑα.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch10 t260 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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