Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 386 AD|symmachus
People are wrong to say Fortune has no judgment. In fact, she remembers the past, watches the present, and plans for the future — and in your case she's repaid you for everything she gave others. She's not random or aimless: while others received her gift, you received her reward.
"Who told you about my honor?" you'll ask. Public fame — which is always believed when it reports the truth. Was I supposed to wait for your own letter, which your modesty was holding back? Absolutely not — patience is hard when the news is good.
So here I am, as you can see, doing your job for you: what I should have learned from you, I've chosen instead to announce. But don't let my hasty letter prevent you from writing your own. Pretend I don't already know what I'm telling you, and give me the news as if it were fresh — I'll be just as happy to hear it twice. Farewell.
Falso creditur, nesciam iudicii esse fortunam; illa vero et praeteritorum memor
et praesentium diligens et prudens futuri tibi rependit, quidquid cetens praestitit. non
ergo vaga neque erratica est, a qua scimus alios donum cepisse, te praemium. quis
tibi honoris, inquies, nostri fecit indicium? celebritas famae, cui iusta narranti statim
creditur. an opperirer super hoc tuas litteras, quas verecundia diflferebat? minime; 2.s
siquidem difficilis est patientia gaudiorum. fungor igitur, ut vides, partibus tuis, et
quae debui cognoscere, malui quodammodo nuntiare. sed nolo ista properatio litterarum
mearum tuum munus inpediat. scire me, quod nunc scribo, dissimula, et tribue quasi
novum nuntium, quem ego gratulabor iteratum. vale.
sententia oerbls V, ex sententia gum uerbis 77, tuppU res procedunt vel iimile quid nam cum scribam
tibi ex sententia usus uerborum suppetit quorum alias supellex mihi desit. quippe F 7 me om. F
obloquentem] F, loquentem V est ante hominum eoUoe. F 8 expectatissime F(77} amici-
tiam] Vr^, in amicitia F 9 quam] VFir), hanc (77) 10 opere] F, ope VDP 11 iuxta om. F
atque — 12 fui om. F 12 semper est 77 in me] luretuSj in meo 77, meo VF uellem F
17 uolo] rupio F est ut es (77) semper] (77), om. VF{r)
quidem] nam F 29 quem] quod F
^
XXXVIIU (XXXIU) a. 370—379.
◆
People are wrong to say Fortune has no judgment. In fact, she remembers the past, watches the present, and plans for the future — and in your case she's repaid you for everything she gave others. She's not random or aimless: while others received her gift, you received her reward.
"Who told you about my honor?" you'll ask. Public fame — which is always believed when it reports the truth. Was I supposed to wait for your own letter, which your modesty was holding back? Absolutely not — patience is hard when the news is good.
So here I am, as you can see, doing your job for you: what I should have learned from you, I've chosen instead to announce. But don't let my hasty letter prevent you from writing your own. Pretend I don't already know what I'm telling you, and give me the news as if it were fresh — I'll be just as happy to hear it twice. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.