Letter 3047: It is true that rumor is swift, but I will not agree with the Mantuan poet [Virgil] beyond that point.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 387 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
monasticism
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To: [Unnamed correspondent]
Date: ~387 AD
Context: Symmachus reflects on the speed of rumor, engaging with Virgil's famous description of Fama.
It is true that rumor is swift, but I will not agree with the Mantuan poet [Virgil] beyond that point. He described Fame as a monster that grows by traveling -- I find that rumor often diminishes with distance, losing accuracy as it gains speed. Still, in your case the reports that have reached me are uniformly good, and I trust they are accurate. When good news is consistent across many sources, even a skeptic must believe it.
Vera res est, famam esse velocem: sed non ultra adsentior Mantuano, qui eam
putat in malis debere numerari. nam quid hac praeclarius, cum laetis nuntiis rigat
10 aures et mentem bonorum? mihi certe oppido grata est, postquam purgationis tuae
prima vexit indicium. ruri eram maestus animi ob amissam parentem; eo me secuta
fama curis, quas de te gerebamus, absolvit. nec fides defuit. ilico enim credidi
verum esse, quod noveram et tuae innocentiae et aequitati temporum convenire. ac-
cesserunt etiam litterae tuae tam lepidae ac venustae, ut in re iam cognita novum
15 mihi putarem de te gaudium nuntiari. erat in illis fiducia conscientiae bonae sed cum
laude iustitiae publicae. nam et principibus maximis gratias ut absolutus egisti, et
de sola fortuna ut innocens questus es. verum quid ultra? quando Romam, quando
◆
From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To:[Unnamed correspondent]
Date:~387 AD
Context:Symmachus reflects on the speed of rumor, engaging with Virgil's famous description of Fama.
It is true that rumor is swift, but I will not agree with the Mantuan poet [Virgil] beyond that point. He described Fame as a monster that grows by traveling -- I find that rumor often diminishes with distance, losing accuracy as it gains speed. Still, in your case the reports that have reached me are uniformly good, and I trust they are accurate. When good news is consistent across many sources, even a skeptic must believe it.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.