Letter 846: Libanius urges Eusebius to help Emesa's envoys secure imperial restoration for their ruined city.

Emesa is still sending envoys and crowns to the emperors. She knows her poverty, yet she is ashamed to fall out of the number of cities, though her present condition has long since cast her out of it. For this city, once the eye of Phoenicia, the dwelling place of the gods, the workshop of eloquence, the spring of blessings and good cheer, and countless other good things besides, this great and beautiful city has lost nearly everything. She can now be seen in only a few houses, which will suffer the same fate as the rest unless you offer some help. The story of those houses is this: one man, under pressure, sold; but the price did not remain with the seller. The buyer tore the place down, took whatever he wanted, carried it elsewhere, and used it there. What is left is very small indeed. Those who remember the old prosperity now weep over the present. Any stranger who comes there leaves as quickly as he can, trying not to see everything, because from every side there are causes for lamentation. Let divine Arcadius, then, make this city a city for us again, for a place that has become such a thing instead of what it was must be counted as no city at all. It would be fitting for him to give such gifts to the earth, and to make those who wish to praise him richer in reasons to do so. I know well that, where you have authority, the envoys will fail in nothing. You delight in doing good, and you will think that I, who sent them to you, am present with them and share their urgency.

1. Ἔτι πρέσβεις Ἔμεσα πέμπει καὶ στεφάνους βασιλεῦσιν εἰδυῖα μὲν τὴν ἑαυτῆς πενίαν, αἰσχυνομένη δὲ ὅμως τοῦ τῶν πόλεων ἐκπεσεῖν ἀριθμοῦ καίτοι τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτὴν ἐκβεβληκότων πάλαι. 2. ὁ γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸς τῆς Φοινίκης καὶ τὸ τῶν θεῶν οἰκητήριον καὶ τὸ τῶν λόγων ἐργαστήριον καὶ ἡ πηγὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν 〈καὶ〉 εὐθυμιῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐξαριθμήσαι τις τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀγαθῶν, αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ πολλή τε καὶ καλὴ τὰ πολλὰ μὲν ἀπολώλεκεν, ὁρᾶται δὲ ἐν οἰκίαις ὀλίγαις ταὐτὸ ταῖς ἄλλαις πεισομέναις, εἰ μὴ βοηθήσαις τι. 3. οἷον γὰρ δή τι τὸ ’κείνων· ὁ μὲν ἀγχόμενος ἀπέδοτο, ἡ τιμὴ δὲ οὐ τοῦ πεπρακότος, ὁ δὲ πριάμενος καθελὼν λαβὼν ὅσα ἤθελεν ἄγων ἄλλοσε ἐχρῆτο. πάνυ δή τι μικρὸν τὸ λειπόμενον, παλαιᾶς μὲν εὐδαιμονίας μεμνημένοι, τὰ νῦν δὲ δακρύοντες. καὶ ξένος δὲ ὅστις ἐκεῖσε ἔλθοι, κατὰ τάχος ἀπέρχεται πειρώμενος μὴ πάντα ὁρᾶν ὡς πανταχόθεν οὐσῶν εἰς ὀδυρμὸν ἀφορμῶν. 4. τὴν οὖν οὐκέτ’ οὖσαν, τὴν γὰρ ἀντὶ τοιαύτης τοιαύτην δεῖ νομίζειν οὐκ εἶναι, πάλιν ἡμῖν ὁ θεῖος Ἀρκάδιος ποιείτω πόλιν. πρέπει γὰρ ἂν αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα διδόναι τῇ γῇ καὶ ποιεῖν τοὺς βουλομένους αὐτὸν ἐπαινεῖν εὐπορωτέρους. 5. ὧν δὲ σὺ κύριος ὡς οὐδενὸς οἱ πρέσβεις ἀτυχήσουσιν, εὖ οἶδα. τῷ τε γὰρ εὖ ποιεῖν χαίρεις καὶ τὸν ἐπεσταλκότα ἐμὲ παρεῖναί τε νομιεῖς καὶ κοινωνεῖν τοῖς πρέσβεσι τῆς σπουδῆς.