Letter 824
Libanius→Nicocles|libanius
To Nicocles. (363 AD)
I am not recommending Theodorus to you — you raised him yourself, and I need not ask you to love him, since you have long loved your companion. I have written only so that you may know your efforts on his behalf will also be a favor to me.
If no one harasses him, you will make him happy in all else. But if there are those who try, you will teach them that where the noble Nicocles stands, injustice flees.
Νικοκλεῖ. (363)
Οὐ συνίστημί σοι Θεόδωρον, ὃν αὐτὸς ἐξέθρεψας,
ἀξιῶ φιλεῖν, πάλαι γὰρ φιλεῖς τὸν ἑταῖρον, ἀλλ’ ἴν’ ὅτι καὶ
ἐμοὶ χαριῇ ταῖς εἰς αὐτὸν σπουδαῖς εἰδείης, ἐπέσταλκα.
ἂν
μὲν οὖν ἐπηρεάζῃ μηδείς, τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτὸν εὐφρανεῖς· ἂν
δ’ ὦσιν οἱ τοῦτο ποιοῦντες, διδάξεις αὐτοὺς ὡς οὗ Νικοκλῆς
ὁ γενναῖος, ἐντεῦθεν ἀδικία φεύγει.
◆
To Nicocles. (363 AD)
I am not recommending Theodorus to you — you raised him yourself, and I need not ask you to love him, since you have long loved your companion. I have written only so that you may know your efforts on his behalf will also be a favor to me.
If no one harasses him, you will make him happy in all else. But if there are those who try, you will teach them that where the noble Nicocles stands, injustice flees.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.