Letter 79: If I could have traveled with Sabinus, I would have spoken to you in person rather than writing -- that's how badly...
To Atarbius. (359)
If I were able to share the road with Sabinus, I would be conversing with you in person instead of writing, so great is my eagerness to snatch the man out of the storm; but since I am compelled on many grounds to remain here, I have not let slip the second-best course of sailing, but I write to you.
And I would wish that you, both for justice's sake and for ours, hold out against the difficulty of the present occasion and teach these men that it does not rest with them to tear apart the magistrates once they have laid down their office.
I, for my part, have promised to that man that he would obtain everything from you, and you would be the one with the power either to prove me a boaster by the promise, or not.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἀταρβίῳ. (359)
Εἰ μὲν οἷός τ’ ἦν κοινωνῆσαι Σαβίνῳ τῆς ὁδοῦ, παρὼν
ἄν σοι διελεγόμην ἀντὶ τοῦ γράφειν, οὕτω πολλή μοι σπουδὴ
τὸν ἄνδρα ἐξαρπάσαι τῆς ζάλης· ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλαχόθεν ἠνάγ-
κασμαι μένειν, οὐ παρῆκα τὸν δεύτερον πλοῦν, ἀλλ’ ἐπιστέλλω.
καὶ βουλοίμην ἄν σε τοῦ τε δικαίου καὶ ἡμῶν χάριν ἀν-
τισχεῖν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ καιροῦ δυσκολίαν καὶ διδάξαι τοὺς ἀν-
θρώπους, ὡς οὐκ ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς ἐστι τοὺς ἄρχοντας, ὅταν λήξωσι
τῆς ἀρχῆς, σπαράττειν.
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ὡμολόγηκα πρὸς ἐκεῖ-
νον, ὡς παντὸς ἂν παρὰ σοῦ τύχοι, σὺ δ’ ἂν εἴης κύριος ἡ
ἀλαζόνα με δεῖξαι τῇ ὑποσχέσει ἢ μή.
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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