Letter 259: My occupation is still rhetoric, as before, but the pleasures are nothing like they were.
To Crispinus. (361)
Our occupations are devoted to literature, just as before; the pleasures, however, are not at all like those of earlier days. For so many and such friends and kinsmen of mine have departed [died] that grief overpowers me and there is delight from no quarter, so that, were I not exceedingly ashamed to do so, I would beg the Muses not to be angry, and, abandoning my post, I would take up farming.
But let these matters proceed in whatever way seems good to the god. As for the things we have composed, some you have, while others you do not have and are seeking. You must therefore tell me how many you have; for in that way you will inform me which ones you need to receive. For it is not worth our while to wear out the copyists [scribes] to no purpose. Give word, then, and you will find Theophilus active in the matter, and us willing to gratify you.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Κρισπίνῳ. (361)
Διατριβαὶ μὲν ἡμῖν ἐπὶ λόγοις οἷαίπερ πρότερον, οὐ μέν-
τοι γε ἡδοναὶ ταῖς ἔμπροσθεν παραπλήσιαι. τοσούτων γάρ μοι
καὶ τοιούτων καὶ φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν οἰχομένων ἡ λύπη κρα-
τεῖ καὶ τέρψις οὐδαμόθεν, ὥστ’ εἰ μὴ λίαν ᾐσχυνόμην, παραι-
τησάμενος ἂν τὰς Μούσας μὴ χαλεπαίνειν λιπὼν ἂν τὴν τά-
ξιν ἐγεώργουν.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὅπῃ τῷ θεῷ δοκεῖ, χω-
ρείτω· τῶν δ’ ἡμὶν πεποιημένων τὰ μὲν ἔχεις, τὰ δὲ οὐκ ἔχων
ζητεῖς. δεῖ δή σε φράζειν, ὁπόσα ἔχεις. οὕτω γὰρ ἃ δεῖσε λα-
βεῖν διδάξεις. οὐ γὰρ ἄξιον ἡμῖν κόπτεσθαι τηνάλλως τοὺς
βιβλιογράφους. μήνυε δὴ καὶ τόν τε Θεόφιλον ἐνεργὸν εὑρή-
σεις ἡμᾶς τέ σοι χαρίζεσθαι βουλομένους
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/First1KGreek/blob/master/volume_xml/libanius_10.xml
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