Letter 2025: You're certainly well-supplied with counsel and prepared for every situation — a man of your wisdom and cultivation...

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 378 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|AI-assisted
friendship

You're certainly well-supplied with counsel and prepared for every situation — a man of your wisdom and cultivation needs no advisor. But I hope you'll allow my own vigilance to contribute something to your private affairs.

So if our friend's letter brings you anything I've been thinking about as well, pursue it confidently as something approved by two minds. And if you find anything new in it, consider it your own discovery, merely prompted by someone who cares for you. I've attached the main points in summary — I didn't want to spell everything out in a letter, to avoid being tedious. It's up to you to weigh what I've outlined. That is how I've discharged my duty — by leaving the judgment to you. Farewell.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Abundas quidem consiliis in omnem rei usum paratus, et sapientiae cnltus artibus
monitore non indiges; sed fas est, ut fa meas quoque vigilias aliquid privatis ne- io
gotiis tuis conferri patiaris. quare si quid praemeditatum utrique nostrum stilus fra-
temus ingesserit, constantius exequere tamquam duobus probatum; si quid tibi adhuc
novum legeris, a te inventum puta, quod ab amante suggeritur. subieci capita rerum,
quia conplecti litteris fastidii fuga nolui. tuum erit insinuata trutinare. ita enim meo
officio functus sum, ut tibi iudicium reservarem. vale. 15

XXVI a. 385?

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