Letter 3050: It is superfluous labor to recommend the conspicuous -- like holding a torch before someone standing in sunlight.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Evtropium|c. 388 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To: [Unnamed correspondent]
Date: ~388 AD
Context: A longer letter arguing that recommending a person of already conspicuous merit is like holding a torch before the sun.
It is superfluous labor to recommend the conspicuous -- like holding a torch before someone standing in sunlight. And yet custom demands these letters, and friendship obliges me to write them. The person I commend today needs no introduction from me. His achievements speak for themselves, and his reputation precedes him wherever he goes. But since you have asked for my formal endorsement, here it is: I confirm what you already know and add the weight of my personal testimony to what the world has already recognized.
Saperforanei laboris est commendare conspicaos, at si in sole positis facem prae-
feras et accensa laminam claritadinem diei gestias adiavare. idcirco inpraesentiaram 10
nihil moratas testis offieiam salatationi taae stili operam dedicavi. ta tamen Postamiar-
nam fratrem nostram iavenem de sammatibas roeo qaoqae nomine velim diligas, ut
intellegat, istam velati omissionem laadis saae plas honoris habaisse.
xxxxvira.
AD EVTROPIVM. 15
In gravi dono habeo, qaod amicitiae meae viros edecamatae honestatis adinngis.
facis hoc pro cetera erga me diligentia taa , nec amqaam desistis operam, qaod mihi
ex asa accidat, consalendi. qaid si tibi etiam fratris mei Sabini nomine gratias agam ?
qai a te in bonam partem creditas tantam praerogativae attalit, at si foret omnibas
iam probatas. dignas plane talis viri iestimonio, qaod cam illi ad commendationem 20
sai tribaeris, existimaris hoc aliis, qaibas commendatas est, praestitisse. vale.
L a. 379?
AD EVTROPIVM.
Cam ta Romam commodam repetis, ego me in secessa antearbano adseroi lectioni.
dia qaippe ab hoc negotio cara obstrepente desedimas. nanc abi ta abes pars anti- 25
qaior amiconim meoram, vicem sermonis tai veterom scripta fungantar. haat oliui
tamen arbem rare mataveram, at ae^tas mihi Praenestino Algido frangeretar, et inter-
ventas familiaris negotii ropit otiam meam. ergo iam viam lego depositis, qaae lege-
bam. si qaid 'praeterea scitu opas est, meas Palladias indicabit, qaem ego non minas
doleo abdactam a iaventate Romana, qaam gratalor in spem sai honoris accitom. 30
II offlclo F 12 ut inteiligat, hic honori suo aliqoid aceessisse. uale F
16 in grani dono] LeetHu, in grauido non P
Iureiu8y aut P 27 ut P 2 m. in tpatio vaeuo aestas] luretusy aetas P et] eyo, sed P
29 sdtu] luretua, scito PiF)
LI.
AD EVTROPIVM. PF
Ago qnidem studio tuo uberes gratias, qnod mihi familiaritatem probatissimi cnins-
qne conciliaB. sed frater mens Hyperechins iamdndam institntione Romauns est. cnr
s igitnr mihi bona nostra commendas? cedo alios nsn incognitos emendatione consi-
miles! si tamen raritas virtntam admiscrit, nt nnnm ant alternm aeque edecnmatae
honestatis invenias. illos ego amicos beneficio tuo adqnisitos putabo, quos nescio; at
istnm mihi reddidisti potius qnam dedisti.
LII a. 387.
◆
From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To:[Unnamed correspondent]
Date:~388 AD
Context:A longer letter arguing that recommending a person of already conspicuous merit is like holding a torch before the sun.
It is superfluous labor to recommend the conspicuous -- like holding a torch before someone standing in sunlight. And yet custom demands these letters, and friendship obliges me to write them. The person I commend today needs no introduction from me. His achievements speak for themselves, and his reputation precedes him wherever he goes. But since you have asked for my formal endorsement, here it is: I confirm what you already know and add the weight of my personal testimony to what the world has already recognized.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.