Letter 2045: The palatine officials [imperial court staff] accused of wrongdoing, whom Your Excellency ordered brought from...
The palatine officials [imperial court staff] accused of wrongdoing, whom Your Excellency ordered brought from Bruttium [southern Italy], were produced by the soldier dispatched from the praetorium. But since the same case falls under the sacred court's jurisdiction, my lord and father the urban prefect [Symmachus's father was urban prefect of Rome] has claimed the defendants for his own hearing, by authority of law and with confidence in your approval.
I mention this so you'll know that the officer had good reason for yielding — he deferred to both your father and the law.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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