Letter 2062: Both the dress and the hair of Serapammon proclaim him a man of literary learning -- he would never have adopted the...

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus To: [Unnamed correspondent] Date: ~393 AD Context: A brief letter introducing a man named Serapammon, whose appearance marks him as a scholar. Both the dress and the hair of Serapammon proclaim him a man of literary learning -- he would never have adopted the philosopher's attire if he did not remember his own education. But let your own judgment of him be the test, since you profess knowledge of such matters. For my part, I commend his religious devotion and trust that you will find in him everything his appearance promises.

25 £t habitus et crinis indicio [est] Serapammon litteraram peritiam pollicetur, cuius si se meminisset exortem, numquam philosophis congruentem sumpsisset omatum. sed de hoc vestra aestimatio sit, qui talium reram profitemini notionem. mihi religio fuit, non negare verba poscenti. facies rem morum tuoram, si ope atque humanitate for- tnnam peregrinantis adiuveris. 30 LXn (LXI) a. 390.