Letter 2054: You are performing the duty of a good brother, but stop reminding someone who already remembers.

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus To: [Unnamed correspondent] Date: ~390 AD Context: A witty note to a friend reminding him that Symmachus doesn't need to be reminded about religious festival duties. You are performing the duty of a good brother, but stop reminding someone who already remembers. The ceremonies of the gods and the commanded festivals of the divine are well known to me. Unless, perhaps, you are asking me alone to carry out your share, and as is customary when religious duties are delegated, you are assigning me your obligations. Enjoy your abundant pleasures while we take care of what has been entrusted to us. But remember, once the holidays are over, to make your partners in your feasting those whom you worked so hard to make your companions in fasting.

15 Fungeris boni fratris officio, sed desine memorem commonere. notae nobis sunt caerimoniae deorum et festa divinitatis imperata. nisi forte me solum exequi vicem tuam postulas, et ut adsolet res divina mandari, mibi tuum munus iniungis. fruere deliciis copiosis; nos mandata curabimus. sed memento exactis feriis participes facere luxuriae tuae, quos tantopere laborasti consortes habere ieiunii. 20 Lim ante a. 395.