Letter 2067: If friendship always demands that we help each other's affairs with mutual services, how much more attentively...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 395 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To: [Unnamed correspondent]
Date: ~395 AD
Context: A letter asking for help with a kinsman's affairs, invoking the obligations of friendship and family.
If friendship always demands that we help each other's affairs with mutual services, how much more attentively should we care for the interests of our relatives, whose fortunes and misfortunes are our own? Moreover, the goodness of a cause often encourages us to do willingly what we owe as a general obligation. I therefore ask you to lend your support to the matter described by the bearer of this letter. You will find the cause just and the person worthy. Whatever favor you show will strengthen both our friendship and your own reputation for generosity.
Si amicitiae semper ratio deposcit, ut mutua negotia alternis iuvemus officiis,
qnanto inpensior utilitatibus propinquorum cura debetur, quorum nobis bona et adversa
5 communia sunt? quid quod saepe causae bonitas cohortatur, ut quod debemus generi,
tribuamus promptius aequitati? quae me non minus pro IIlo quam necessitudo com- 2
movit, ut ipse etiam conperto ex relatione Victoris spectabilis viri negotio iudicabis.
nam quo res notior fieret, publicae epistulae malui exempla sociare, ne quid f fiducia
dicere per gratiam iudicarer. nunc, si tibi voluntas mea cordi est, praesta huic
10 quaestioni maturam securitatem, quam pro iustitia etiam me silente deferres.
LXVII (LXVI) ante a. 395.
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From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To:[Unnamed correspondent]
Date:~395 AD
Context:A letter asking for help with a kinsman's affairs, invoking the obligations of friendship and family.
If friendship always demands that we help each other's affairs with mutual services, how much more attentively should we care for the interests of our relatives, whose fortunes and misfortunes are our own? Moreover, the goodness of a cause often encourages us to do willingly what we owe as a general obligation. I therefore ask you to lend your support to the matter described by the bearer of this letter. You will find the cause just and the person worthy. Whatever favor you show will strengthen both our friendship and your own reputation for generosity.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.