Letter 2091: You are always the bearer of great joys for me, but now what you report has exceeded even my prayers.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 400 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
monasticism
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To: [Unnamed correspondent]
Date: ~400 AD
Context: Symmachus celebrates good news brought by his friend, expressing extraordinary joy at developments that have exceeded his hopes.
You are always the bearer of great joys for me, but now what you report has exceeded even my prayers. I could fill pages with my delight, but I will restrain myself and say only this: the news you have brought is the kind that makes a man grateful to be alive in the times he lives in. I will not spoil it by saying more until I have had the chance to savor it fully. Expect a longer letter soon, once the first rush of happiness has settled into the steadier glow of reflection.
Semper mihi auctor es ingentium gaudiorum; at nunc supra vota processit, quod
10 me expetendi plane et exambiendi viri familiaritate decorasti. neque hoc suspicione
coniecto. nam Patricii sermo fecit indicium, diligentiam in me suam te praesule pro-
Tocatam; quare mm ceteris benefactis tuis etiam hic titulus procedet in numemm,
qui solus quamlibet voti ayaritiam possit explere. vale.
LXXXXI (LXXXX) ante a. 395.
15 . SYMMACHVS FLAVIANO FRATRI.
Qnotiens parentum beneficiis obligamur, necesse est ad heredes nexum debiti
pertinere. ad filium meum Senatorem praeclamm atque omatissimum virum pertinet
praefata generalitas; cuius pater omnibus rebus inlustris et mihi eximia veneratione
recolendus plurimum domui meae honorificentiae et religionis exhibuit. cuius ego
20 devinctus oflSciis filio opto persolvere, quod de parente contraxi. sola autem me po-
test magnificentia tua contractu gratiae liberare, si posteritatem eius adiuverit, ])rae-
cipue in his rebus, quae iustitiae patroeinio fulcinntur. siquidem queritur agros suos 2
contra iudicatum vestram magna parte mutilari. grave hoc et inpetibile posset videri,
nisi etiam consensus partium fmstrationibus luderetur. minus est enim alienam sen-
2s tentiam speraere quam a propria discrepare. est igitur in mann tua in tam absoluto
et probabili petitionis genere servatis legibus et aequitatis intuitu aliquid etiam meae
deferre personae, cuius interventum fastidio longae litis, non difBdentia negotii postu-
lavit.
sus P 1 m. lauderetur P, fori. laederetur 25 ad proprfa P 26 atque probabili F 27 dif-
fldentia/ P poatulani uale F
70 SYMIOACHI EPISTVLAE
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From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To:[Unnamed correspondent]
Date:~400 AD
Context:Symmachus celebrates good news brought by his friend, expressing extraordinary joy at developments that have exceeded his hopes.
You are always the bearer of great joys for me, but now what you report has exceeded even my prayers. I could fill pages with my delight, but I will restrain myself and say only this: the news you have brought is the kind that makes a man grateful to be alive in the times he lives in. I will not spoil it by saying more until I have had the chance to savor it fully. Expect a longer letter soon, once the first rush of happiness has settled into the steadier glow of reflection.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.