Letter 2029: When you vouch for a good man, you recommend your own judgment as much as you help his cause.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 380 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship

When you vouch for a good man, you recommend your own judgment as much as you help his cause. So in writing on behalf of my friend Maximus, I serve my own reputation no less than his interests.

He's a man of outstanding character and learning in the liberal arts, second to none among the distinguished philosophers, and therefore perfectly worthy of your friendship. When he has completed the business for which he was sent your way, I ask that you receive his just petitions and support them with the full weight of your well-known humanity.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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