Letter 955: Libanius recommends Boethus to Panegyrius, praising Boethus's devotion to Greek culture and his desire to carry Libanius's letters.
This man Boethus seems happy to me, making the Greek tongue great even at a time when the other is flourishing. In what way does he make it great? Passing over many powerful men, he said he desired to bring letters from us to you, so that his friendship with you might increase. He who loves being loved by a sophist loves words; and he who loves words surely honors the subject of his love, and would most gladly make all men its lovers. How then should we not consider the man who promotes our words a benefactor, and do whatever he asks? I have written as he requested, and would have done even something dangerous if he had asked. You too must have the same mind and find pleasure in whatever gladdens your lover. You, being who you are, will not write about what you have done; but the one honored will not be silent, honoring justice everywhere.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
1. Εὐδαίμων εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ Βοηθὸς οὑτοσὶ μεγάλην εἶναι ποιῶν τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων φωνὴν καὶ ταῦτα ἐν καιρῷ τῷ τὴν ἑτέραν ἀνθεῖν πεποιηκότι. 2. τίνι δὴ τρόπῳ μεγάλην ἐκείνην καθίστησι; πολλοὺς ὑπερβὰς τῶν δύναμιν ἐχόντων γράμματα σοὶ παρ' ἡμῶν ἐνεγκεῖν ἔφησεν ἐπιθυμεῖν· τὴν γὰρ οὖσαν αὑτῷ πρὸς σὲ φιλίαν οὕτως ἔσεσθαι μείζω. ὅστις δὲ ἐρᾷ τοῦ φιλεῖσθαι παρ' ἀνδρὸς σοφιστοῦ, λόγων οὗτος ἐρᾷ· ὅστις δὲ ἐρᾷ λόγων, σεμνύνει δήπου τοῦτο, περὶ ὃ τοῦτο πέπονθε, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἥδιστ' ἂν αὐτοῦ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐποίησεν ἐραστάς. 3. τὸν οὖν αὔξοντα τοὺς λόγου ἡμῖν πῶς οὐκ εὐεργέτην τε νομιστέον καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι ἂν κελεύῃ ποιητέον; ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν, γράψαι γὰρ ἐκέλευεν, ἔγραψα ποιήσας ἄν τι καὶ τῶν κίνδυνον ἐχόντων, εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἐκέλευε· δεῖ δὲ καὶ σὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχειν γνώμην καὶ πᾶν ἡδὺ νομίζειν ὅτῳ τὸν ἐραστὴν εὐφρανεῖς. 4. ταυτὶ δὲ σὺ μὲν ὁ πράξας οὐ γράψεις ὤν, οἷος εἶ, τὸν τρόπον· ὁ δὲ τιμηθεὶς οὐ σιγήσεται τιμῶν τὸ δίκαιον πανταχοῦ.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch6 gemini flash ocr 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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