Letter 997: A collective appeal that Tyre should let rhetoric shine by welcoming teachers.
You do well to want noble Tyre to shine not only in her other advantages but also in eloquence. Some teachers give themselves to the city; others acquire students there. You will gain this if you treat all teachers with goodwill, not helping some and driving others away. It would be disgraceful if someone forced out among you went elsewhere and prospered. As for Maxentius, since he has fallen in love with your city, it is only fair not to blame him for that love. If the city were not what he says, he would be at fault; but as things stand, I know the rhetor, and it is better to pass over the rest in silence. I have said this to all my friends, whom I hope to find truly friendly when it comes to action.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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. Καλῶς ποιεῖτε μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν καὶ λόγοις ἐκλάμπειν τὴν καλὴν βουλόμενοι Τύρον, τῶν μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ διδόντων, τῶν δὲ κτωμένων. τούτου δ' ἂν τυγχάνοιτε πρὸς ἅπαντας εὐνοίᾳ χρώμενοι τοὺς ἐπὶ τῷ διδάσκειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς μὲν συναγωνιζόμενοι, τοὺς δὲ ἀπωθοῦντες. 2. αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ὑμῖν, εἴ τις παρ' ὑμῖν βιασθεὶς ἄλλοσε ἐλθὼν εὖ πράξειε. Μαξέντιον δὲ ἐρασθέντα τῆς ὑμετέρας δίκαιον μὴ καταμέμψασθαι τοῦ ἔρωτος. εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ὅ φησιν, ἐκεῖνος ἦν ἂν ἐν αἰτίᾳ· νῦν δέ, οἶδα γὰρ τὸν ῥήτορα, τὸ δ' ἐπὶ τούτῳ σιωπᾶσθαι βέλτιον. 3. ταυτί μοι πρὸς ἅπαντας εἴρηται τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους, οὓς ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐλπίζω φίλους ὡς ἀληθῶς εὑρήσειν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern libanius foerster vol11 batch9 t259 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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