Letter 512
Libanius→Hierocles|libanius
To Hierocles.
If things had worked out and you had been part of the triumphant company that Themistius assembled around him, our happiness would have been complete. But as it was, "the gods did not grant everything" [Homer, Iliad 4.56] -- we saw the one but could only correspond with the other.
You were right to call us blessed then, and now we return the compliment: at that time, the good thing was coming our way; now it has turned back to you.
Enjoy it. Lend your ears to a long story, and let the man you once taught ancient matters now teach you about new ones.
Ἱεροκλεῖ. (356/57)
Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἐγεγόνει καὶ σὲ εἶχεν ὁ χορὸς ὃν νικῶν συν-
έστησε Θεμίστιος, ἀπῆν ἂν ἡμῖν εὐδαιμονίας οὐδέν. νῦν δὲ
οὐ πάντα θεοὶ δόσαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν ἑωρῶμεν, τοῖς δὲ
ὡμιλοῦμεν γράμμασι.
μακαρίους δὲ καὶ σὺ τότε ἡμᾶς ὀρθῶς
ἐκάλεις καὶ νῦν ἡμεῖς σέ· τότε μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἡμᾶς ᾔει τἀγα-
θόν, νῦν δὲ ἀναστρέφει παρὰ σέ.
ἀπόλαυε δὴ καὶ πάρεχε
τὰ ὦτα διηγήσει μακρᾷ καὶ χρῶ διδασκάλῳ νέων πραγμάτων,
ὃν ἐδίδασκες τὰ ἀρχαῖα.
◆
To Hierocles.
If things had worked out and you had been part of the triumphant company that Themistius assembled around him, our happiness would have been complete. But as it was, "the gods did not grant everything" [Homer, Iliad 4.56] -- we saw the one but could only correspond with the other.
You were right to call us blessed then, and now we return the compliment: at that time, the good thing was coming our way; now it has turned back to you.
Enjoy it. Lend your ears to a long story, and let the man you once taught ancient matters now teach you about new ones.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.