Letter 4016: Let your concern for me extend beyond surface courtesy.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 373 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
Let your concern for me extend beyond surface courtesy. I only want you to consider this: since you are the most generous of men in bestowing praise, it seems too little that I am praised by you unless I am also more deeply obligated. Beyond this, I want to know why, though you preserved the old-fashioned style in our names at the top of the letter, you abandoned it in the body.
Let others be puffed up by the title "Your Sublimity" — I reject the address "Your Magnificence." Unless you think me unreasonable for not returning such flattering terms. Feigned affection hides behind formal titles; the true cultivation of friendship is honest and direct. Farewell.
operto est; inde me taa cura respiciat. sed non est meum formam scribendis litteris
dare; illud tantum cogites volo, cum sis ad praedicandum liberalissimus, parum mibi
videri posse, quod a te laudor, nisi amplius obligor. praeterea scire postulo, cur 2
5 servata in praemissis nominibus nostris vetustas deftierit litterarum contextioni. iuvet
alios titulo sublimitatis adtolli, ego magnificentiae appellationem recuso. nisi forte me
inprobum putas, quod honori tuo eadem delenimenta non defero. amor fictus in illa
verba summittitur; amicitiae cultus ipgenuus est. alba velamina non segraentati
amictus fidem vestiant. quo mihi altus reverentiae gradus? amari a fratre malo
10 quam suspid.
XXXXm a. 397—398.
AD MINERVIVM.
Eusebius familiaris est meus ; idem vetus privati miles aerarii diu mprbo obstante
obsequio tuo defuit. orandus mihi es, ne inter resides adnotetur. sed impetratio
15 veniae non manebit, nisi illi aliquid beneficii propitiatus adieceris. quaeso igitur, flagi-
tandis per Etruriam debitis publicis sollicitudinem navare iubeatur, ut longae absentiae
culpam commendatione aliqua laboris amoveat.
XXXXim a. 397 i
AD MINERVIVM.
20 Semper quidem mihi salutatio a te profecta gaudium creat, sed ea praecipue,
quae familiaribus adportanda committitur. adicit enim scriptis digna quaesitu et de
te tradit auditui, si quid defuit lectioni. velut nunc Sebastius vester post epistulam
tuam redditam quantam mihi, satin ex voto ageres, sciscitanti imaginem praesentiae
tuae praestititl idem nunc de otio meo, quae velis nosse, narrabit, nam me in silvis
25 Laurentibus continatus est rurali inhaerentem quieti. quid enim magis adsectandum
est mihi, sarcienti nonnumquam valetudinem, declinanti saepe /urbas, litterarum
semper innocentiam diligenti?
XXXXV a. 396—397.
AD MINERVIVM.
30 Fiducia mihi stili atque ingenii mei nulla est, sed tua benignitas ausus meos pro-
vocat. misi igitur ad eruditiopem tuam duas oratiunculas nostras, quarum una ad
Polybii filium pertinens ex recenti negotio nata est, altera dudum, cum res in senatu
agitaretur, a me parata nunc opere largiore aucta processit. huic argumentum est
repudiata censura, quam tunc totius senatus fugavit auctoritas. nolo mireris gravis-
35 simum ordinem magisterium respuisse. in oratione nostra non leves causas vitatae
huius potestatis invenies.
. 12 om. VM 13 familiaris est] familiarissimus (r)
lis^noflse P narrauit V 26 curbas PV^ curas Kiesaling
uitote V, /auiUte P, in toU re M
Q. AVKBLITa STMMAOHVt. i5
1 1 4 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE
XXXXVI hiemeH94/5?
◆
Let your concern for me extend beyond surface courtesy. I only want you to consider this: since you are the most generous of men in bestowing praise, it seems too little that I am praised by you unless I am also more deeply obligated. Beyond this, I want to know why, though you preserved the old-fashioned style in our names at the top of the letter, you abandoned it in the body.
Let others be puffed up by the title "Your Sublimity" — I reject the address "Your Magnificence." Unless you think me unreasonable for not returning such flattering terms. Feigned affection hides behind formal titles; the true cultivation of friendship is honest and direct. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.