Libanius of Antioch (AD 314-93), teacher, rhetorician and eloquent exponent of Greek paideia, was one of the most prolific letter writers of late antiquity with more than 1500 surviving letters from an even greater total. This volume contains the first English-language translation of all the letters written between 388 and 393, which provide insights both into his professional and personal circumstances and the changes taking place in the political, religious and social environment of the late fourth century. The letters while fulfilling many of the usual functions of late antique correspondence as vehicles in creating or maintaining friendship networks, promoting relationships with men in power, supporting rhetoric and Hellenic learning and seeking favours for friends, students and proteges, also reveal Libanius' reaction to his circumstances at the end of his life - his waning influence as a teacher, the hostility directed towards him by factions in Antioch and in Constantinople, the loss of friends and loved ones, in particular his son, and his ill health and impending mortality.

This volume begins with an introductory chapter on Orator, Emperor, and Senate. It then presents translations of a selection of speeches of Themistius, grouped into chapters that deal with a key period in the evolution of his career or with a sequence of events of particular historical significance. Chapter two explores Themistius' initial rise to prominence and includes translations of orations one and three as well as of the letter of Constantius to the Senate. Orations five and six are included in chapter three, which explores the themes of Themistius' ability to jump between regimes and of the religious controversies of the 360s. With chapter four (orations 14-16), the story leaps forward a decade and a half to the turbulent years of Theodosius, charting the evolution of his policies as he struggled to constrain the warring Goths. Chapter five, finally, brings the story to the twilight of Themistius' career and the controversy that erupted when he agreed to become urban prefect of Constantinople in 383/384. Orations 17 and 34 presented here, not only illuminate that controversy, but also how Themistius wished his lifetime's achievement to be viewed.