Laudator Temporis Acti

Libanius, Orations 1.255 (tr. A.F. Norman, with his note):

The successor of this ungodly fellow was another unbeliever himself. He took up his office and began to run to fat through his self-indulgence, as being a man of property, but his property was the fruit of his wickedness. He was more stupid than the other in that, upon my telling him to do no damage to Daphne and to lay no axe to its cypresses, he became my foe and tried to bring me down through teachers, first of Latin, then of Greek.<sup>a

a</sup> The anonymous Comes (PLRE 1015 (61)) actively promotes Cynegius' second objective, the suppression of pagan temples. Libanius had just protested at this in Or. 30.42 f, emphasizing, as here, that they are imperial property. Felling of cypresses in Daphne was already subject to imperial control; cf. Codex Theodos. 10.1.12, of 379, Codex Justinianus 11.78.1–2. The Comes' other misdemeanours were the establishment of a chair in Latin (cf. Or. 58.21 f, 38.6) and the encouragement of a rival Greek sophist.

ἄλλος δέ τις ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐκ εἰδότος θεούς, εἰδὼς οὐδ᾿ αὐτὸς θεούς, παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν τρυφῇ μὲν εἰς σάρκας ἐπιδούς, οἷα ἐκ πολλῆς οὐσίας, ἠ δὲ ἀδικίας ἔργον ἦν, ᾧ1 τοῦδε ἀνοητότερος, ἀκούσας μὴ χείρω ποιεῖν τὴν Δάφνην μηδὲ ἐπιφέρειν κυπαρίττοις σίδηρον ἐχθρός τε ἦν καὶ ἐπειρᾶτο τἀμὰ καθελεῖν, πρῶτα μὲν Ἰταλῶν φωνῇ, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ Ἑλλάδι...

Id. 1.262:

The rule of our pot-bellied governor was a harsh one, for his wrath had been kindled by a piece of deceit.^b He had decided to lay the axe to the cypresses in Daphne, and I, realizing that such a course would bring no good to any who chopped them down, advised one of his boon companions that he should not incur the anger of Apollo because of the trees, especially since his temple had already been afflicted by similar misdeeds. I told him that I would invite the emperor to show concern for Daphne, or rather to emphasize the concern he felt already, for he was not without it, as it was.

^b Reverts to the anonymous Comes of §255, who has continued with his ravaging of Daphne. Apollo is both protector of Daphne (Or. 60.5) and, as in Iliad 1.284, the avenger.

Ἀρχὴ πικρὰ τοῦ μεγίστην ἔχοντος τὴν γαστέρα, δι᾿ ἀπάτης παρωξυμμένου. ἦν δὲ ἡ ἀπάτη, κυπαρίττοις μὲν ἐν τῇ Δάφνῃ σίδηρον ἐπενεγκεῖν ἐγνώκει, τουτὶ δὲ εἰδὼς ἐγὼ τῷ τέμνοντι τελευτῆσον οὐκ εἰς ἀγαθόν, πρός τινα τῶν αὐτοῦ συμποτῶν ἔλεγον ὡς οὐ παροξυντέον τὸν Ἀπόλλω διὰ τῶν κυπαρίττων, καὶ ταῦτα αὐτῷ τῆς οἰκίας ἀφ᾿ ὁμοίας πεπληγμένης αἰτίας, καὶ παρακαλέσειν δὲ ἔφην τὸν βασιλέα πρόνοιαν τῆς Δάφνης ἔχειν, μᾶλλον δὲ μείζω ποιῆσαι τὴν οὖσαν· εἶναι γὰρ δὴ καὶ νῦν.

For other references, see Glanville Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), p. 22, n. 37:

Among the many references to the cypresses of Daphne the most important are Libanius Or. 11.236-238; Malalas 204.10ff.; Procopius Wars 2.14.5; Paulus Silentiarius Ekphrasis of St. Sophia 524; cf. Müller, Antiq. Antioch. 46. There are two laws protecting the cypresses of the sacred grove, of Arcadius and Honorius, and of Theodosius and Valentinian (CJ 11.78).

Labels: arboricide