Letter 757
Libanius→Διοφάντῳ|libanius
To Diophantus. (362 AD)
What you asked for has been accomplished. Use your own judgment and your grandfather's money in your grandfather's city. This was carried out while many people scrambled to claim the service, each wanting the deed credited to himself. As a result, even I learned it was finished before I could contribute my share.
So if anyone inscribes my name on the trophy, remember the trophy at Marathon — and the Spartans, who never fought in the battle but got inscribed all the same. That way you will not be taken in.
Διοφάντῳ. (362)
Ἐπράχθη σοι ὧν ἐδέου, καὶ χρῶ τῇ τε γνώμῃ σαυτοῦ
καὶ τοῖς τοῦ πάππου χρήμασιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ πάππου πόλει. ταῦτα
δὲ ἐπράττετο πολλῶν ἁρπαζόντων τὴν διακονίαν κοὶ ζητοῦν-
τος ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον αὑτοῦ γίνεσθαι. ἐντεῦθεν καὶ αὐτὸς
ἐγενόμην τῶν ὅτι τέλος ἔχει μαθόντων πρίν τι συμβαλέσθαι
μέρος.
ἢν οὖν τις ἐπιγράφῃ με τῳ τροποίῳ, μέμνησο τοῦ
Μαραθῶνι τροπαίου καὶ τῶν μὴ συμμεμαχημένων μὲν Λακε-
δαιμονίων, ἐγγεγραμμένων δέ οὕτω γὰρ ἥκιστα παρακρου-
σθήσῃ.
◆
To Diophantus. (362 AD)
What you asked for has been accomplished. Use your own judgment and your grandfather's money in your grandfather's city. This was carried out while many people scrambled to claim the service, each wanting the deed credited to himself. As a result, even I learned it was finished before I could contribute my share.
So if anyone inscribes my name on the trophy, remember the trophy at Marathon — and the Spartans, who never fought in the battle but got inscribed all the same. That way you will not be taken in.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.