The Relationship between Libanius and Strategius Musonianus: Some Considerations on the Letters of Book V

The aim of the contribution is to shed some light on the interpersonal relationship between Libanius and the PPO Strategius Musonianus from an analysis of the epistles of book V written between March 355 and May 356. From some epistles where Strategius is mentioned, directly or indirectly, a complex and evolving relationship emerges between the antiochian rhetorician and the PPO that deviates from the message of syntony conveyed in the Autobiography. The epistles suggest a growing concern of Libanius over its relational distance with the PPO due, in large part, to the publication of his epistles by Themistius and Andronicus.

Keywords: Libanius, Strategius, Epistolography, Interpersonal relationship, Publication.