Letter 974: Libanius asks that Euthymius, a capable advocate with an empty purse, receive help.
I did not give this letter so that good Euthymius might acquire your friendship; he already has it. I gave it so that your friendship might become greater because of your regard for me. I know you will be willing to honor the letter in this case, just as you have honored many other letters like it. The man is able to help those who need an advocate, since he is strong both in speeches and in laws, but he carries an empty purse and would like not to carry it empty. After Fortune, you and the governor have power over this, and you more than the man whose task it is to govern.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Οὐχ ἵνα κτήσηταί σου τὴν φιλίαν ὁ χρηστὸς Εὐθύμιος, ἔδωκα τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ἔχει γάρ, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα γένηται μείζων ἐκείνη διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἐμὲ χάριν. οἶδα γὰρ ὡς ἐθελήσεις τούτῳ κοσμῆσαι τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ὥσπερ αὖ πολλὰς πρὸς τῇδε δι᾽ ἴσων. 2. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀνὴρ οἷός τε βοηθεῖν τοῖς χρήζουσι συνδίκου καὶ λόγοις ἰσχύων καὶ νόμοις, κενὸν δὲ περιφέρων βαλάντιον βούλοιτ᾽ ἂν αὐτὸ μὴ κενὸν περιφέρειν. τούτου δὲ μετὰ τὴν Τύχην σύ τε καὶ ὁ ἄρχων κύριοι, καὶ μᾶλλόν γε σὺ ἢ ὅτου γε τὸ ἄρχειν ἐστίν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch8 t258 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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