Letter 1078: There's something in my daughter Galla's [the text says "Fusgania" — possibly a copyist error] complaints that I'll...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 398 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
property economicswomen
There's something in my daughter Galla's [the text says "Fusgania" — possibly a copyist error] complaints that I'll confess has actually worked in my favor: if she hadn't demanded a useful letter on her behalf, I'd have had no occasion to write at all.
So let me begin with the greeting that serves my own duty. The rest of the page concerns the case of this distinguished lady, who claims that some of your people have seized certain lands from her — I don't know exactly what.
Knowing your standing and your character, I assume this was done by your servants without your knowledge. That's why I've promised my daughter that the situation would be easy to correct, once a personal appeal reached you.
I ask, therefore, that you order the disputed property restored. If there's any genuine controversy, let the matter be deferred until our kinswoman [Galla] can be present — she's confident in your sense of justice and refuses any other judge.
Est aliqaid in qnerellis Fasganiae filiae meae, qaod mihi ex voto fateor accidisse ;
nam nisi fataras sibi asai litteras poposcisset, ad scribendam mihi defaisset occasio.
praelibo igitar salatationem, qnae meam spectat officiam ; reliqaa pars paginae ad cau-
sam clarissimae feminae pertinebit, qaae sibi ab hominibus tais nescio quid agroram
deflet ereptam. id ego loci et meriti tai conscias servili aasa clam te opinor ad- 20
missnm, atqae ideo filiae meae correctionis facilitatem spopondi, si ad te familiaris
conqnestio genus iniariae pertalisset. qaaeso igitar, at temeratae possessionis statam
iabeas reformari. si qaid aatem controversiae est, in pignoris nostri praesentiam dif-
feratar, qaae secora iastitiae taae recasat alios (K)gnitores.
AD HESPERIVM. 25
LXXV (LXVmi) a. 376—380.
SYMHACHVS HESPERIO.
Qnotiens viris militiae notis testimonia defernntar, decet operam verboram facere
conpendii, qaia nihili negotiam est rebas cognitis immorari. pro CaesaHo nosti omnia
facere, qaae probantar. hanc at pensi habeas, sperare magis debeo qaam rogare. so
si qaid altra expetis, in alias litteras conferemas; nanc mihi maltiloqoio temperandam
est, cam satisfactam esse videatar et illins volantati et tao honori et meo ma-
neri. vale.
mihi Vf spectata siqnidem mihi M quies om, VM 13 haeret] Seioppiuty haec heret P 1 m., haec
h^ret P2m., haeret haec F, heret hio M examine V
praesentiam P
25 explic ad titianum germanum auum. incipit ad hesperium P, om, VF 27 om. VF 28 quot-
tiens V 29 nihili] Latinius, nihil PVFPP ceaario P 1 m. 31 expetitis V mihi om. P
l
/
/
LXXVI (LXX).
◆
There's something in my daughter Galla's [the text says "Fusgania" — possibly a copyist error] complaints that I'll confess has actually worked in my favor: if she hadn't demanded a useful letter on her behalf, I'd have had no occasion to write at all.
So let me begin with the greeting that serves my own duty. The rest of the page concerns the case of this distinguished lady, who claims that some of your people have seized certain lands from her — I don't know exactly what.
Knowing your standing and your character, I assume this was done by your servants without your knowledge. That's why I've promised my daughter that the situation would be easy to correct, once a personal appeal reached you.
I ask, therefore, that you order the disputed property restored. If there's any genuine controversy, let the matter be deferred until our kinswoman [Galla] can be present — she's confident in your sense of justice and refuses any other judge.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.