Letter 1097: I shouldn't need to recommend the honorable Zeno, since I know he already belongs to your circle of friends.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 401 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship

I shouldn't need to recommend the honorable Zeno, since I know he already belongs to your circle of friends. But his character is so fine that I can't keep silent about his merits.

Please, I ask you — at my urging and for his own sake — to show even more generous favor to a man who is rightly valued by all good people for his devoted service. You'll be doing honor both to your own reputation, which deserves to be celebrated by everyone, and to my intervention — let him know that my letter was of some use to him. Farewell.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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