Letter 3016: The person who brings you this letter is known to me in the way that one knows people whose family one has done...

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, senator and orator To: [Unknown correspondent] Date: ~373 AD Context: Symmachus, Book III, letter 16. A letter of recommendation or intercession on behalf of a third party — one of the most common functions of the late Roman letter. The person who brings you this letter is known to me in the way that one knows people whose family one has done business with for a generation — which is to say, well enough to speak confidently, and well enough to know that I am not speaking into the void. His situation is one that requires the kind of intervention that only you can provide, and I ask you to provide it with the confidence that you will not regret having done so. The case is straightforward: a talent that is being wasted in a position beneath it, and a position that is available but requires your recommendation to become available to him. I know this is not the first such request I have made of you, and I am aware that the form is familiar enough to be almost a cliché. But the requests I make are not made indiscriminately — I say this not to flatter myself but to remind you that when I commend someone to you, the commendation is based on genuine knowledge and genuine conviction. Do this for me, and I will find a way to return the favor in kind. Your devoted friend, Symmachus