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|AI-assisted
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.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Pro optimis viris quisquis intervenit, non magis illomm videtur iuvare commodum
quam suum commendare iudicium. quare in eo, quod fratris mei Maximi desideria
20 litteris prosequor , non tam illi usui sum , quam mihi laudi est. est enim vita atque
eruditione liberalium disciplinamm pariter insignis neque ulli praestantium philoso-
phorum secundus ac propterea tua familiaritate dignissimns. cuius tibi negotia cum
in rem missus absolverit, quaeso, nt humanitate, qna clams es, iustas petitiones in-
gravato auxilio prosequaris.

25 XXX a. 389.

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