Letter 3019: You have finally broken your long silence -- though, by Hercules, only after being prodded by my repeated letters.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 374 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendshippapal authority
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To: A friend (name lost)
Date: ~374 AD
Context: Symmachus celebrates the end of a friend's long silence and expresses joy at his brother's appointment to a vicariate.

You have finally broken your long silence -- though, by Hercules, only after being prodded by my repeated letters. Still, my delight is no less than if you had written of your own accord. I rejoice at my brother's appointment to the vicariate [the office of vicarius, a deputy governor] as if the honor had been bestowed on me. I am equally pleased by the goodwill you have shown him, as though you had contributed something to it yourself. Together with him, we have reliable evidence that the distinguished Syagrius [probably the younger Syagrius, a notable Gallo-Roman aristocrat] has exerted himself in a service of real value. I thought it worth writing this to you so that you, as a faithful advocate, might carry forward our gratitude.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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