Libanius

Selected Orations, Volume I, Julianic Orations (Loeb Classical Library No. 451)

Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures Scott Bradbury

Libanius of Antioch (A.D. 314-393) stands out as a fundamental source for the history of the Greek East in the fourth century. An eloquent exponent of Greek culture and of the traditional style of Greek civic life, Libanius consistently advocated humanity and tolerance in the face of the religious extremism and social oppression that too often characterized the era in which he lived. During a teaching career that spanned more than five decades, he developed a vast network of connections: some 700 people, including many of the key players of the age, are known through his vast letter collection, the largest to survive from antiquity. This volume offers translations of 183 letters, addressed to a wide range of people, from family members to old schoolmates and pupils, from provincial governors to the most important officials of the imperial court. Drawn from the 1,269 letters written between 355 and 365, these letters play an important role in making the age of Constantius II and Julian the Apostate the most richly documented period of the ancient world.

From the Age of Constantius and Julian

Selected Letters of Libanius

Libanii sophistae praeludia oratoria LXXII. declamationes XLV. et dissertationes morales. Federicus Morellus regius interpres e mss. maxime Reg. Bibliothecae nunc primum edidit: idemque Latine vertit

Libanii Opera: Declamationes XIII-XXX. Accedit Gregorii Cypril adversus Corinthiorum declamationem Libanianam antilogia. 1911

Ad fidem codicum mspt. recensuit et perpetua adnotatione illustravit Io. Iacobus Reiske

Libanii Sophistae orationes et declamationes

Craig A. Gibson

This volume presents the original text and the first English translation of the largest surviving ancient collection of preliminary exercises used to teach young men how to compose their own prose, a crucial step toward public speaking and a career worthy of the educated elite. Graded in difficulty, the exercises range from simple fables and narratives to discussions of wise sayings, speeches of praise and blame, impersonations of figures from myth, descriptions of statues and paintings, and essays on general propositions (e.g., should one marry?). It provides a unique glimpse into the schoolrooms of the ancient Mediterranean from the Hellenistic period to the Byzantine Empire, vividly illustrating how ancient educators used myth, history, and popular ethics to shape their students characters as they sharpened their ability to think, write, and speak.

Libanius's Progymnasmata

Orationes

Orationes XVII. Antonius Bongiovanni Nunc Primum Ex Mss. Codicibus Eruit, Latine Vertit, Notisque Illustravit

R. Scott Smith

Marc Mastrangelo

William Musgrave Calder

Bernhard Huss

Socrates (469-399 BC) is one of history's most enigmatic figures. Our knowledge of him comes to us second-hand, primarily from the philosopher Plato, who was Socrates' most gifted student, and from the historian and sometime-philosopher Xenophon, who counted himself as a member of Socrates' inner circle of friends. We also hear of Socrates in one comic play produced during his lifetime (Aristophanes' Clouds) and in passing from the philosopher Aristotle, a student of Plato. Socrates is a figure of enduring interest. He is often considered the father of Western Philosophy, yet the four most famous accounts we have of him present a contradictory, confusing picture. Just who was Socrates? A brilliant philosopher, at times confounding and infuriating, morally serious and yet ironic; the ever-worldly man, sometime mystic, and uncommon martyr depicted by Plato? Or did Plato conflate Socrates' views with his own startling genius, as Aristotle suggests? Was So rates instead the less impressive, more mundane man whose commonsense impressed the laconic Xenophon? Or was Socrates the charlatan, the long-winded phony of Aristophanes' play? The Socratic works of Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD), Libanius (AD 314 -- c. 393), Maximus of 'Tyre (2nd century AD), and Apuleius (born c. AD 125) add important dimensions to the portrait of Socrates: Diogenes Laertius' Life of Socrates emphasizes Socrates' deep ethical nature and his extraordinary personality; Libanius' Apology of Socrates is based on sources now lost to us; Maximus of Tyre's Whether Socrates Did the Right Thing When He Did Not Defend Himself makes the star ling claim (against testimony of Plato and Xenophon) that Socrates never spoke athis own trial; from Apuleius' On the God of Socrates we hear at length of Socrates' infamous daimonion: the "divine sign" only mentioned elsewhere, the sign that warned Socrates against certain courses of action. In short, from these four texts we are reintroduced to Socrates, and new wrinkles are added to an already intriguing historical figure.

Translations, with Introductions and Notes, of Four Important Documents in the Late Antique Reception of Socrates the Athenian

The Unknown Socrates

Libanius

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