From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch
To: Leontius
Date: ~359 AD
Context: A vivid letter about a missing messenger, a ruined temple, and the flatterers who sabotage Libanius's correspondence.
I received your earlier letter too -- you can't imagine how gladly. The most delightful thing about it was this: you had heard that I intended to write to you, and yet even though you already had my letter in hand, you did what any true friend would do and wrote first.
The man who delivered your letter to me, however, handed it over in the marketplace, said he'd come right over to the council chamber where I spend my days -- for the Temple of Fortune, my dear Leontius, has been stripped of its former glory along with the flocks it once maintained, and is now nothing more than an occasion for tears whenever I walk past -- and then, after promising to come and making every show of eagerness, he was swept away as if by the wind and never appeared again.
I assumed he'd been carried off against his will. But it turns out he was here in the city the whole time, avoiding me. I learned this from the man who brought your second letter. He'd probably fallen in with some pack of flatterers who consider it a point of honor not to carry letters from me. If he'd met them before meeting me, they'd certainly have talked him out of delivering yours at all.
I was surprised that even in your latest letter you didn't say whether you'd received mine. The signs of ill will are everywhere...
**To Leontius** (359 AD)
I received your earlier letter too — you could not imagine with what pleasure. And the most delightful thing about it was this: that upon hearing I had written to you, but not yet having the letter in hand, you did exactly what one would expect of a man who already possessed it.
The fellow who delivered your letter to me, however — he handed it over in the marketplace and said he would come straightaway to the council chamber where I spend my time (for the Temple of Fortune, my dear Leontius, along with its other splendors, has been stripped even of the flocks it once maintained, and is now a source of tears for us whenever we pass by) — well, that fellow, after saying he would come and showing every eagerness, was snatched away as if by the winds and never appeared before me again.
I assumed he had been carried off against his will, but it turned out he was still here in the city and was avoiding me. I learned that he was still around from the man who delivered your second letter. And perhaps he had fallen in with a gang of flatterers, the sort of people who are only too pleased that he brought no letter from me. Indeed, had he encountered them before he met me, they would no doubt have prevailed upon him not to deliver even your letter.
I was surprised, though, that in your present letter you gave no indication that you had received mine. I turn the matter over in every direction and cannot find the explanation. That Eumathius came to you is made clear by the letter that arrived here from Iphicrates; and I cannot believe that, having reached you, he would have had no account to give of the man on whose behalf he delivered many fine speeches and whom he never ceased urging you to write to. I myself repeatedly asked the young man he was escorting whether his tutor had died — for I could not believe he would commit such an oversight while still alive — and when the boy assured me he was well, my bewilderment has not ceased.
So tell me — did you receive it or not? If you did, I shall be glad; if not, it will prompt me to send you a copy of my original letter.
Context:A vivid letter about a missing messenger, a ruined temple, and the flatterers who sabotage Libanius's correspondence.
I received your earlier letter too -- you can't imagine how gladly. The most delightful thing about it was this: you had heard that I intended to write to you, and yet even though you already had my letter in hand, you did what any true friend would do and wrote first.
The man who delivered your letter to me, however, handed it over in the marketplace, said he'd come right over to the council chamber where I spend my days -- for the Temple of Fortune, my dear Leontius, has been stripped of its former glory along with the flocks it once maintained, and is now nothing more than an occasion for tears whenever I walk past -- and then, after promising to come and making every show of eagerness, he was swept away as if by the wind and never appeared again.
I assumed he'd been carried off against his will. But it turns out he was here in the city the whole time, avoiding me. I learned this from the man who brought your second letter. He'd probably fallen in with some pack of flatterers who consider it a point of honor not to carry letters from me. If he'd met them before meeting me, they'd certainly have talked him out of delivering yours at all.
I was surprised that even in your latest letter you didn't say whether you'd received mine. The signs of ill will are everywhere...
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.