From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch
To: Acacius, friend
Date: ~362 AD
Context: Libanius describes his anxiety when he feared Titianus might be sent elsewhere, his relief when Celsus and others confirmed the decree was reversed, and his joy at hearing Titianus delivered a speech that honored the governor.
But what did you expect me to do, by Athena herself, when Titianus was being sent elsewhere and your vote -- the vote that had spurred our progress -- seemed to be shifting, or at least appeared to be?
Was I supposed to cheer, put on a garland, and light thank-offerings to the gods, as I did when the young man first came to me?
You would have been right to despair then, and to file a charge of insolence on the grounds that your support counted for little in my eyes. But now you may rightly rejoice at my relief. I was grieving, and while I let slip no bitter word, the thought that others would reap the glory of what the Phocians had labored for [a proverb: Philip of Macedon took credit for the Phocians' work] kept me from being at ease.
Then Celsus's letter was the first to break the gloom, reporting that the decree had been reversed, and I breathed easier. After that someone else brought the same news, then a third, then a flood of them -- for great good news always has many messengers.
And the admirable Rufinus put the crown on it: he said the young man had honored the governor with a speech. That was the same as honoring me -- the one through his deeds, the other through his words. For both are my pupils.
Context:Libanius describes his anxiety when he feared Titianus might be sent elsewhere, his relief when Celsus and others confirmed the decree was reversed, and his joy at hearing Titianus delivered a speech that honored the governor.
But what did you expect me to do, by Athena herself, when Titianus was being sent elsewhere and your vote -- the vote that had spurred our progress -- seemed to be shifting, or at least appeared to be?
Was I supposed to cheer, put on a garland, and light thank-offerings to the gods, as I did when the young man first came to me?
You would have been right to despair then, and to file a charge of insolence on the grounds that your support counted for little in my eyes. But now you may rightly rejoice at my relief. I was grieving, and while I let slip no bitter word, the thought that others would reap the glory of what the Phocians had labored for [a proverb: Philip of Macedon took credit for the Phocians' work] kept me from being at ease.
Then Celsus's letter was the first to break the gloom, reporting that the decree had been reversed, and I breathed easier. After that someone else brought the same news, then a third, then a flood of them -- for great good news always has many messengers.
And the admirable Rufinus put the crown on it: he said the young man had honored the governor with a speech. That was the same as honoring me -- the one through his deeds, the other through his words. For both are my pupils.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.