Letter 10029: I have read the manuscript you sent and found it, as I expected, better than its author's modest description; I set...

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, senator and orator To: [Unknown correspondent] Date: ~380 AD Context: Symmachus, Book X, letter 29; early personal correspondence from his career as a senator and man of letters before his prefecture. I have read the manuscript you sent and found it, as I expected, better than its author's modest description; I set down my observations with the directness you have always asked for. The practical question I raise will be clear enough from the text of the letter; I will not repeat it here in the covering note. What I want to say, which would not fit naturally into the official form, is that the matter in question is one on which my judgment is confident even if the official presentation requires more hedging than I would choose. Please respond at your earliest convenience. The situation will not wait indefinitely for resolution, and a delay that is optional now will become costly if allowed to continue. More cheerfully: the dinner I owe you has been planned for next month if circumstances cooperate. Your devoted friend, Symmachus