Letter 10059: The restoration of the Altar of Victory [the famous pagan altar in the Senate House, removed by Gratian in 382 and...

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, senator and orator To: [Unknown correspondent] Date: ~392 AD Context: Symmachus, Book X, letter 59; personal correspondence from his long career as a senior senator in the late Roman West. The restoration of the Altar of Victory [the famous pagan altar in the Senate House, removed by Gratian in 382 and never restored despite Symmachus's famous petition] remains, for me, a matter of principle as much as of sentiment. 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