Letter 3040: When I wrote this letter to you, I was confined to my bed by illness -- freed from danger, to be sure, but still...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 385 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendshipillnessimperial politics
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To: A friend (name lost)
Date: ~385 AD
Context: Symmachus writes from his sickbed, reporting that he has successfully arranged for a friend's protege to be enrolled among the ranks of consulares (former consuls) by decree of the Senate.
When I wrote this letter to you, I was confined to my bed by illness -- freed from danger, to be sure, but still without strength, which keeps being drained by intermittent fevers. Yet even amid the troubles of my poor health, I set my friends to work on having our mutual pledge enrolled among the ranks of consulares by a senatorial decree. Your merits were taken into account -- I will not claim that anything was owed to my influence. I have given the official records of the most distinguished order to the honorable Datianus, and when they reach your hands, you may pronounce that I have fulfilled the obligations of friendship. For there is nothing I want more than to be judged a diligent performer of honest duty. Farewell.
Gum has ad te litteras darem, lectnlo aeger tenebar iam quidem a periculo vindi-
catns sed adhnc inops virinm, quae snbinde incertis febribns deternntur. inter haec
tamen mala valetndinis meae amicis negotium dedi, nt pignns commnne consnltn patmm '
viris consnlaribns inngeretnr. habita est ratio meritornm tuorum; nihil enim gratiae 25
meae dico delatnm. acta amplissimi ordinis Datiano honesto viro tradidi, qnae nbi
in manns tnas venerint, amicitiae me satisfecisse pronnntia/o. nihil enim malo qnam
honesti ofGcii diligens indicari. vale.
5 pecuniarias actiones] LeetiuSf pecnniariam sanctionis P 1 m. VF^^ pecuniarias sanctionia P2m.^ pecunia-
riam sanctionem F 6 illa V plerumque snperuacua F 7 de me enU sanctis eoU. F 8 pe-
tenti VF mihi om. V 9 praesidii P 2 m. V
et me F 18 remuneres F
19 expHcit ad ambrosiom Incipit ad hilarium P, om. VM 21 om. VM 22 tenebrariam qoi-
dem V 23 inobs P 1 m. 24 ualetudines P 1 m,, ualitudines V pigniis P 26 daciano F,
dona M 27 pronuntiato] ego^ pronuntiant PV, proounciabt M
XXXVira a. 397?
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From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To:A friend (name lost)
Date:~385 AD
Context:Symmachus writes from his sickbed, reporting that he has successfully arranged for a friend's protege to be enrolled among the ranks of consulares (former consuls) by decree of the Senate.
When I wrote this letter to you, I was confined to my bed by illness -- freed from danger, to be sure, but still without strength, which keeps being drained by intermittent fevers. Yet even amid the troubles of my poor health, I set my friends to work on having our mutual pledge enrolled among the ranks of consulares by a senatorial decree. Your merits were taken into account -- I will not claim that anything was owed to my influence. I have given the official records of the most distinguished order to the honorable Datianus, and when they reach your hands, you may pronounce that I have fulfilled the obligations of friendship. For there is nothing I want more than to be judged a diligent performer of honest duty. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.