Letter 450
Libanius→Bacchius|libanius
To Bacchius. (355/356)
I believe both things: that you copied them out, and that you consider my trifles a treasure. You say you are grateful to me for having them; I am not entirely grateful to you for showing them around -- because I know you do show them.
But Fortune has given me one good thing -- your friendship -- while withholding the other: living in the same city as the friend I love. The goddess should not have begrudged me the second.
Βακχίῳ. (355/56)
Ἄμφω πείθομαι, καὶ ὡς ἐξεγράψω καὶ ὡς οἴει κτῆμα
τοὺς ἡμετέρους εἶναί σοι φληνάφους. σὺ μὲν οὖν χάριν φὴς
ἔχειν ἐμοὶ τοῦ ταῦτα λαβεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ λίαν ἔχω σοι χάριν
τοῦ ταῦτα δεικνύειν, οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι δεικνύεις.
ἡ Τύχη δὲ τὸ
μέν τί μοι δέδωκεν ἀγαθόν, τὴν σὴν φιλίαν, θάτερον δὲ οὐ
δέδωκε, τὸ συζῆν τῇ φίλῃ κεφαλῇ. χρῆν δὲ τὴν θεὸν μὴ φθο-
νῆσαι τοῦ δευτέρου.
◆
To Bacchius. (355/356)
I believe both things: that you copied them out, and that you consider my trifles a treasure. You say you are grateful to me for having them; I am not entirely grateful to you for showing them around -- because I know you do show them.
But Fortune has given me one good thing -- your friendship -- while withholding the other: living in the same city as the friend I love. The goddess should not have begrudged me the second.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.