Letter 287
Libanius→Bishops Gerontius and John|libanius
To Gerontius. (361)
When you took on the governorship of Egypt, I took on the obligation of writing to you about my friends. They were bound to ask me for letters of introduction, and I could offer no excuse for not providing them.
First among those who asked and who now carries this letter is Heraclides -- a gentle man, skilled in speaking, close to me, and an ornament to Memphis. Show me by how you treat him whether such introductions are worth making or not.
Γεροντίῳ. (361)
Ὅτε σὺ τὴν ἀρχὴν Αἰγυπτίων ἐδέχου, τότε ἐγὼ τοῦ περὶ
τῶν φίλων σοι γράφειν ἀνάγκην. ἐκεῖνοί τε γὰρ ἔμελλον αἰτή-
σειν ἐπιστολὰς ἐμοί τε οὐκ ἂν ἦν μὴ διδόντι λόγος.
πρῶ-
τος δὴ τῶν αἰτούντων καὶ φερόντων Ἡρακλείδης γίγνεται,
πρᾷος ἀνήρ, λέγειν εἰδώς, ἐπιτήδειος ἐμοί, Μέμφιδι κόσμος.
δεῖξον δή μοι τοῖς περὶ τοῦτον ἔργοις εἴτε δεῖ τὰ τοιαῦτα
ἐπαγγέλλειν εἴτε μή.
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To Gerontius. (361)
When you took on the governorship of Egypt, I took on the obligation of writing to you about my friends. They were bound to ask me for letters of introduction, and I could offer no excuse for not providing them.
First among those who asked and who now carries this letter is Heraclides -- a gentle man, skilled in speaking, close to me, and an ornament to Memphis. Show me by how you treat him whether such introductions are worth making or not.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.