Letter 1111: Lest you think I've been entirely idle, I'm entrusting to your learned judgment a little book — a record of my...
Lest you think I've been entirely idle, I'm entrusting to your learned judgment a little book — a record of my recent efforts — which won favorable votes from my fellow citizens in the Senate.
You see: I'm preemptively submitting myself to the rigors of your most exacting scrutiny. I don't plead the merit of my style — I point to the judgment of the Senate. My cause and my audience's cause are one. Everyone will learn whether your verdict confirms or corrects theirs [Text breaks off in source.]
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Ne me otiosum penitus arbitreris, committo eruditioni tuae vigiliarum mearum
testem libellum, quo nuper in senatu sustuli civium secunda suffragia. vides, quo
quo M 9 posthae] P(r), posthaeo VM epistolae P hyble P, ///biblae V, iUe M in-
homeeti F, thimeti M
Bnlata} P 15 pro ifuer. Latinua LaUnku, om. PVM
list! F
Q. Atkklits Stmmaohvs. 5
42 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE
PVF praeindicio antevertam gravissimi examinis tui severitatem. non stili mei praetendo
meritam sed ordinis iudicatum. communis mihi et auditoribus meis causa est. scient
omnes aut consensum tuae de nobis sententiae aut contumeliam suae. vale.
CVI (C).
Related Letters
I shouldn't need to recommend the honorable Zeno, since I know he already belongs to your circle of friends.
Mutual affection makes it natural for me to delegate tasks that serve my interests.
If the poison of greed has caught you — and it is the root of every evil — and it is driving you into idolatry,...
Your letter reached me, and I read it with care.
When Christ said, "Unless you turn and become like children" [Matthew 18:3], he was not demanding a return to...