Letter 2005: Having arrived at Formiae well into the day, and thinking you'd be anxious about us, we're writing ahead of any...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 367 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
imperial politicstravel mobility
Having arrived at Formiae well into the day, and thinking you'd be anxious about us, we're writing ahead of any inquiry from you. You weren't more worried about our sea crossing than we were that you might be left in suspense. So whatever you might have said in reply to our letter, this one has already covered. Now consider how much better our judgment of you was than yours of us: we anticipated your concern before you could even write, while you only sent your letter because you assumed we wouldn't write unless prompted. Farewell.
Delati Formias post multam partem diei , cum vos eius rei sollicitos crederemns,
percontationem vestram scriptione praevertimns. nec vos magis de navigatione fuistis
anxii, quam trepidabamns nos, ne diu essetis incerti. qnod igitur responderi posset
30 litteris vestris, prior sermo consumpsit. nnnc aestimate, quanto nostra de vobis melior
fnerit iudicatio quam vestra de nobis. contemplati enim snmns magnitudinem solli-
citndinis vestrae, prinsqnam litteras mitteretis, cnm vos eas ideo miseritis, qnia scrip-
turos noB nisi admonitos non pntastis. vale.
3 mene] luretua^ meae PV 4 sponsorem enititar P 1 m. VMy sponsorem nititnr {PP), sponsore
me enititar P 2 m,
Symmaehorum praedio Corano ef. 1 8; VI 61 10 petiaimas P 2 m. 11 fuit F, flat F pacto F
cum 8ol meridiem peregerat 24 aale add. VM
ne dioertom iremos M 32 qoa P 1 m. 33 putatis VM
6»
44 SYMMACHl EPISTVLAE
VI a. 383.
◆
Having arrived at Formiae well into the day, and thinking you'd be anxious about us, we're writing ahead of any inquiry from you. You weren't more worried about our sea crossing than we were that you might be left in suspense. So whatever you might have said in reply to our letter, this one has already covered. Now consider how much better our judgment of you was than yours of us: we anticipated your concern before you could even write, while you only sent your letter because you assumed we wouldn't write unless prompted. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.