Letter 972: Libanius longs for Richomeres' visit and contrasts his own quiet teaching with Richomeres' public victories.

When I examine the kindnesses the gods have shown me, I find your friendship the greatest, and I honor the day that received it: the day when we first saw one another, immediately took pleasure in one another, and behaved as people do who have long been together and have come through a deep familiarity. When necessity made me stay and you go on, it was done with tears. Fame has brought you only a small account of me: that I speak and write, and sit among young men, teaching them something of my own, whether they are persuaded or compelled. Your affairs are splendid, solemn, and great: commands, battles, victories, and the fact that a free man is neither tyrant nor slave when king and friend run toward everything noble, one winning by wisdom and the other by his hands. Some of these things have already received words, some are receiving them now, and some will receive them later. That is the reward for those who have succeeded, just as Homer added words to the deeds of the men with Agamemnon. I ask both the gods and you that you come to us, satisfy our longing, and make Daphne more beautiful with the emperor's beauty. We are not Rome, not the mother city or the daughter, but we are still a city that rejoices in the ruler's successes and grieves that it has not yet seen the godlike man; we are not unworthy of such a gift.