Letter 1052: I could have kept this letter short, since your cousin seemed likely to satisfy you with his own account better than...

I could have kept this letter short, since your cousin seemed likely to satisfy you with his own account better than my writing could. But honest duties should count for more than lazy shortcuts. So I can't stay silent — I want the credit for honoring our friendship — but I can't put everything in a letter either, since something should be left for him to tell you in person. Here, then, are the headlines and the key business. Your cousin, briefed on the details, can fill in the rest. The public priests reached an agreement: in the interest of protecting our citizens, we would entrust the care of the gods to formal public worship. For the generosity of Providence, if not properly honored, slips away. And so the observance of divine rites has been made far more splendid than before. I imagine you're waiting to hear everything else. My friend Titianus will serve as your informant — I've granted him the more generous license of telling you the story face to face.

25 Potai facere scripta conpendii, cnm tibi germanas meas yerbis sais satisfactaras aberias yideretar quam meis literis, sed in maiore Incro officia honesta quam otia mata ponenda sont. ergo neque tacito opus est, at honor amicitiae mihi feratar ac- cepto, neqne omnia mandanda sant litteris, ut illi ad narrandnm aliquid relinquatar. accipe tamen rerum capita et sammas negotioram, qaibus frater admonitus latias quae- 30 sita exeqaatar. conyenit inter pablicos sacerdotes , ut in custodiam ciyium pablico 2 obseqaio traderemus caram deoram. benignitas enim saperioris, nisi culta teneatur, amittitar. ergo malto tanto omatior, qnam solebat, caelestis factas est honor. ex- pectare mihi yideris omnia, quae sapersant. Titianus meus fdngQtur indicinm, cui indalgentias narrandi, qnod yelis, opera legata est. edictum principt^m, nisi iam 1 gratia mea /7 2 oporitar YU 3 trigetl YU[n) operam] (/7), actionig VAf, actionis operam [F) spondissem [11) 5 ianuarii U[n) 6 manns meas F 7 ego] (ZT), ergo VU ore ■tillantes F 17 tantum de cansa F 19 causatio V 20 calcem pono] F^ adesse uolo V pareo] VF, parco n qua in re F mus /T, traberem V 32 ergo multo — 33 uideris cm, F 34 principium VF 24 SYMMACm EPISTVLAE VF notnm est , idem tibi adsertor expediet. statnas eti^m recepistis iisdem paene popnli adclamationibus, quibus amiseratis. ridfes? et libet. ntrideas, afnisti. plnradesino, ne qni strictim meliora detexni, amaris videar inmorari. yale. XXXXVn (XXXXI) ante a. 385.