Letter 2013: I have learned that several people were strolling around our city's forum after receiving letters from me, and I am...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 371 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendshiptravel mobility
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To: A friend (name lost)
Date: ~371 AD
Context: Symmachus is concerned about the security of his correspondence, suspecting that letter carriers may be reading or tampering with his sealed letters.
I have learned that several people were strolling around our city's forum after receiving letters from me, and I am deeply worried that their pretended haste may have been a cover for some kind of fraud against me. I have accordingly enclosed copies of my letters along with the names of the people to whom they were addressed, for you to review or re-examine. In return, please let me know about each one -- either confirm that the duty was properly carried out, or expose any breach of trust. I am equally eager to know whether you received all my letters with their seals intact, bearing the impression of that signet ring in which my name is more easily recognized than read.
You will judge from reading through the copies that there was nothing in them I would fear being made public. There is no cause for secrecy between us. We share our services with open hearts. Nothing lurks in our consciences that needs to be hidden through the tunnels of written correspondence. The point is simply this: let us not allow anyone to make fools of our candor. My diligence should not have to tolerate a spy, since my caution has given me nothing to fear. Farewell.
Spatiari in foro urbis nostrae post acceptas a me litteras plerosque cognovi, et
sic nimis vereor, ne quid in nos fraudis admiserit simulata ante properatio. merito
apographa epistularum mearum simulque hominum nomina vel legenda tibi vel re- &
legenda subieci. tu vicissim de singulis mihi aut impleti officii fidem nuhtia aut
violati prode pei-fidiam. non minore sane cura cupio cognoscere, an omnes obsignatas
epistulas meas sumpseris eo anulo, quo nomen meum magis intellegi quam legi
2 promptum est. nihil autem fuisse, quod metuam publicari, decursis exemplaribus
iudicabis. nec est ulla inter nos causa secreti. aperto pectore officia pura miscemus. lo
nihil in conscientia latet, quod scriptorum cuniculis oceulatur. qfd i?qiiiT"' ^°^, "*
simplicitati nostrae non sinamus inludi. neque enim diligentia mea debet admittere
proditorem, quia cautio praestitit, ne timerem. vale.
Xm a. 389.
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From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To:A friend (name lost)
Date:~371 AD
Context:Symmachus is concerned about the security of his correspondence, suspecting that letter carriers may be reading or tampering with his sealed letters.
I have learned that several people were strolling around our city's forum after receiving letters from me, and I am deeply worried that their pretended haste may have been a cover for some kind of fraud against me. I have accordingly enclosed copies of my letters along with the names of the people to whom they were addressed, for you to review or re-examine. In return, please let me know about each one -- either confirm that the duty was properly carried out, or expose any breach of trust. I am equally eager to know whether you received all my letters with their seals intact, bearing the impression of that signet ring in which my name is more easily recognized than read.
You will judge from reading through the copies that there was nothing in them I would fear being made public. There is no cause for secrecy between us. We share our services with open hearts. Nothing lurks in our consciences that needs to be hidden through the tunnels of written correspondence. The point is simply this: let us not allow anyone to make fools of our candor. My diligence should not have to tolerate a spy, since my caution has given me nothing to fear. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.