Letter 2018: A familiar greeting customarily precedes a personal letter, but I am more eager to wish you well in my heart than to...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 374 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
women
A familiar greeting customarily precedes a personal letter, but I am more eager to wish you well in my heart than to say it on paper. So instead of the usual formalities, let me share some news worth knowing. Our children are still staying with their grandmother. Forgive me if they remain a bit longer than their years might suggest — the old woman's love cannot bear to let them go, and in truth neither can mine.
I hope your own household prospers. Send word of your health and everything that concerns you. Farewell.
Solet generalem salutationem familiaris sermo praemittere. hanc ego impensius
30 tibi voto optare studeo quam stilo dicere. ergo ad vicem verbomm sollemnium scitu
digna conplectar. filii nostri in sinu aviae etiam nunc morantur. da veniam^ si annis
probastis V 13 nostiB V uerecundia V diligis] ego^ diligens PVM 14 accedere] PSm.^
adcidere P I m.y acddere F, adici M 15 muculum V pl^na Af, plenum PV 16 cirsa V
tufam P 17 uale add. VM
naUlis VF, natalis DP iubenls P 1 m, 25 eat a te P exanimi P 1 m. 26 nale add. V
28 om. VM 29 mittere hanc — 30 studeo quam om. P 1 m.
4% 8YMMACHI EPISTVLAE
PVM f^avi» et inierim ^>lacio tao carenH femiiia tenaciter retinet seeiuidom leyamen aevi
2 ae ^ilitadinif» ffoae, n<m tamen alteri eomm yiae instmmenta, alteri in eoeietatem
CiniMilii cimiitem praeparamojs. tibi peregrinationem eenio esse, inyitns andiyi yel,
quml cHt dif^tu digiiia^i pamm credidi, cnm patriae bona et pignemm gandia in optimi
prindpi» di^iatione poHffidea». qnare abiee Baianas cogitationes et yirtnti infraetno- &
Mam (|ai(dU;m. omni otio laW hic tnoB laetior est. amplectamnr moneo sab amante
militiam, yale.
X\Tn a. 3S2— 3S3.
HY MMACHVS FLAVIANO FRATRI.
Ita yoti» in te meiB felix eyentns adrideat, nt ego grayiter fero fratrem Hephae- lo
ntionem \)er te mihi cognitum, per ge probatnm nescio qaid amaritadinis incidisse.
et qaia virtatam taaram contemplatio facit, nt illias fortnnae adplicem, qnod apnd te
minore momento cst, ad preces versns, ot tibi respondeas famamqne cogites, rogo.
2 pracHta hoc contaberaio, praesta iadicio tuo, ut tibi non desit patientia, si illi modns
dcfuit. nolo videaris dcRpectu amici satisfacere caidam nuper Romam regresso, cnius i^
apud nos (|uerella auxit gloriam tuam. certe Eusebius medicomm potissimus obse-
(|ui(», tuo a me traditus et ad leniendas oportunus offensas iam poterit amara con-
diro; de cuius faectiis duo spondeo, nec Hephaestioni temperamentum nec tibi defuta-
rum esse solacium vale.
XVnn a. 382—383. jo
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A familiar greeting customarily precedes a personal letter, but I am more eager to wish you well in my heart than to say it on paper. So instead of the usual formalities, let me share some news worth knowing. Our children are still staying with their grandmother. Forgive me if they remain a bit longer than their years might suggest — the old woman's love cannot bear to let them go, and in truth neither can mine.
I hope your own household prospers. Send word of your health and everything that concerns you. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.