Letter 1029: A father's praise of his children is usually honest, and yet somehow it loses force — people suspect it's motivated...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 380 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
A father's praise of his children is usually honest, and yet somehow it loses force — people suspect it's motivated by affection rather than judgment. So I find myself uncertain what to say about the honorable Thalassius, your son-in-law.
If I praise his character lightly, I'll look envious. If I do him full justice, I'll seem like a flatterer. So I'll follow the model of Sallust's understated testimonial: "You have a man worthy of you and, through you, of a consular family" — a man whom fortune found already greater than the honors she bestowed, whose integrity of soul and moral seriousness had already won him distinction beyond what office could add. Farewell.
Etsi plemmqne vera est apnt parentes praedicatio filiomm, nescio quo tamen
pacto detrimentum meriti sni patiatur, dum personamm spectare gratiam indicatur. 25
qnaero igitur incertus animi, quae mihi nnnc potissimnm super viro honorabili Thalassio
genero tuo verba sumenda sint. si parce decorem momm eins adtingam, liventi simi-
lis existimabor, si iuste perseqnar, ero proximus blandienti. imitabor igitur Sallnstiani
testimonii castigationem : habes virnm dignnm te et per te familia consnlari, quem
5 DemoBth. Olynth. III 39. 12 Terent. adelph. 532. 29 Sall. lug. 9.
conditor eorr, in condictor V 1 m. miUe remm iUe II miUe iUe remm enentus nunqnam F, alia
miUe; aenim namqnam 8ute '9 si] sed U 10 samno V 12 mos sit H 13 recens ne
forte in plaribas occapatas recases F 15 est otiam (Z7)
17 Symmachas Aasonio om. VM, ad eandem (Z7) 18 elaboraait] (/*), laboraait VM{II) 19 mihi
pott copia eoUoe, [11) arbitror] VFM, opinor U opnlentae] Seioppiut^ opulontiae UrVM
eraditioni] ZTT, eniditionis VM 20 Ubrarii U
23 A s= eontentut codieum AiAtonianofum ; A^ wm Vottianut 111 taee, VIIII ; A^ ■■ Patit, 8600 taee, XIIII
Symmachas Aasonio] (Z7), aasonius. axio simacus: ausonio A^, responsio ausonii ad symmachum. symmachus
ausonio A^, om. VM ^ 25 patiatur] VMFA^, patitur A^ 26 mlci A^ talassio AS thalasio VFA^
persequar] VFA^, prosequar A^M priximus A^ salustiani VMFA^, saUustani A^ 1 m, 29 te-
stimoni A^ / m. abes A^ et per te om, A^
fortana honoris parti maiorem beneficiis suis repperit, emendatio animi et sanctitas VMFA
/H)ttoribus iam paravit. vale.
XXVI (XX) a. 378—379.
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A father's praise of his children is usually honest, and yet somehow it loses force — people suspect it's motivated by affection rather than judgment. So I find myself uncertain what to say about the honorable Thalassius, your son-in-law.
If I praise his character lightly, I'll look envious. If I do him full justice, I'll seem like a flatterer. So I'll follow the model of Sallust's understated testimonial: "You have a man worthy of you and, through you, of a consular family" — a man whom fortune found already greater than the honors she bestowed, whose integrity of soul and moral seriousness had already won him distinction beyond what office could add. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.