Letter 4019: You excuse yourself for your long silence.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Florentinus and others (multiple letters)|c. 375 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
illnessimperial politics
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To: Florentinus and others (multiple letters)
Date: ~375 AD
Context: Symmachus writes about recovering from illness, worries about the African grain supply, and exchanges literary courtesies.
You excuse yourself for your long silence. The fault is shared -- for I too was kept from this exchange for a long time by poor health. You must have shuddered when you read the bitter news about me. Return to a happier frame of mind: by the gods' blessing, I have recovered my health. Let us both grant each other easy forgiveness for our literary inactivity. Let us both forgive what we both did wrong.
But what is this you whisper to me about scanty supplies of African grain? Heaven forbid that this year should repeat the misfortune of previous ones! Providence will, I hope, block the paths of disaster by informing the sacred ears [the emperor] and by disciplining the officials responsible for the grain supply. Nor does the time of year cut off hope: the sea is still open to proper sailing, and autumn has not yet plunged into winter. Still, I am pleased that you are anxious and that your dutiful concern anticipates the crisis. A better outcome will reward your care, and the fruit of your praiseworthy diligence will make it sweet, in hindsight, to have worried.
Purgas, quod hucusque siluisti. communis haec culpa est. nam me quoque ab
tali commercio diu infirma valetudo revocavit. inhorruisse te puto, postquam de me
cognitu amara legisti. redi in habitum animi laetiorem: diis quippe auctoribus sani-
tatem refovi. facilis igitur litterariae cessationis utrique venia sit. ambo nobis in- 25
2 vicem remittamus, quod ambo deliquimus. sed quid mihi insusurras frugis Africanae
tenues commeatus? absit, ut praesens annus imitetur fortunam superiorum! inter-
cludet, ut spero, providentia tristes casuum vias sacris auribus edocendis et castiga-
3 tione iudicum, quos alimentaria spectat invectio. nec spem dies obstruit; nam mare
adhuc iustis cursibus patet et nondum in hiemem praecipitat autumnus. placet tamen 30
inter haec, quod inaestuas et pio metu antevertis necessitatem. remunerabitur curam
tuam melior eventus, et laudis tuae fructus efficiet, ut sit tibi postea dulce timuisse.
4 pauca poacenti VM 5 recurrere coDspectuoi PV, reuisere coDBpectum Jlf 9 iadisti P 1 m.
uel anU quid om. V
//////// cessttionis V uticem V 26 quod] quia V deUquemus P 1 m. frugis om, (/^)
LIBERnn. 117
LV a. 398—402.
AD FLORENTINVM. PVM
Dictam mihi a te salatem pari honore conpenBo. vellem atriqne nostrum saepe
altemandi stili usus veniret, sed quia hoc longinqua ^non sinunt cadere pro voto
5 communi^ mpatientiae ratio satisfaciat. debet certe prompta esse inter nos morae mutuae
venia. non eadem tamen facilitate purgabis, quod filii nostri Minervii nuptias aliorum
potius relatu quam litteris tuis conperi. an veritus es, ne a te nomisma auro cusum
desiderarem? potuit iacturam sportulae tacere verecundia mea, negationem gaudii
amor nescit ignoscere. et tamen, tU sum placie/o in meos animo, spondeo remissionem
10 tibi huius offensionis, cum de nepote suscepto anteveneris scripto nuntiorum celeritatem.
IN COIVIMVNE FRATRIBVS MINERVIO PROTADIO ET PrF
FLORENTINO.
LVI (LVH) a. 402?
Et vestra concordia et mea per hos dies inbecillitas facit, ut vos unius paginae
is salutatione coniungam. erit hoc aut probabile pro consortio vestri amoris aut ignos-
cendum pro statu mei temporis. aestimabitis autem virium nostrarum fatigationem,
cnm vos in subscriptione istius epistulae precaria manus moverit. ad hoc filii nostri
Nemesii pia ad larem patremque properatio magis contestationem de me soUemnis
officii quam satisfactionem desideravit. res postulat, ut salute praefata florentissimae 2
20 indoli eius testimonium feram, sed vereor, ne ostentare operam meam videar. quae
plus iuveni bonarum artium contulisset, nisi fratemus casus fregisset cursum duorum.
hoc tamen sincerissima fide dixerim, minutam quidem de altero parentis eius felicita-
tem, sed posse istum suorum gaudio pro utroque sufficere.
LVn (LViu).
◆
From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To:Florentinus and others (multiple letters)
Date:~375 AD
Context:Symmachus writes about recovering from illness, worries about the African grain supply, and exchanges literary courtesies.
You excuse yourself for your long silence. The fault is shared -- for I too was kept from this exchange for a long time by poor health. You must have shuddered when you read the bitter news about me. Return to a happier frame of mind: by the gods' blessing, I have recovered my health. Let us both grant each other easy forgiveness for our literary inactivity. Let us both forgive what we both did wrong.
But what is this you whisper to me about scanty supplies of African grain? Heaven forbid that this year should repeat the misfortune of previous ones! Providence will, I hope, block the paths of disaster by informing the sacred ears [the emperor] and by disciplining the officials responsible for the grain supply. Nor does the time of year cut off hope: the sea is still open to proper sailing, and autumn has not yet plunged into winter. Still, I am pleased that you are anxious and that your dutiful concern anticipates the crisis. A better outcome will reward your care, and the fruit of your praiseworthy diligence will make it sweet, in hindsight, to have worried.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.