Letter 5026: In a letter sweeter than any reproach, you scold me for my neglected duty, and I thank you for it.
You sting me with a rebuke for a neglected courtesy in a rather flattering letter, by which I render you my thanks for the conversation I received. Although I was inclined to think that those conversations are friendlier which are bestowed of one's own accord, and that in replying a necessary return is rendered rather than a spontaneous composition offered, I was nevertheless so affected by your recent letter that I confess I do not know whether you have repaid this gift or bestowed it. But do you consider what charm your letters are going to have, the ones you will display unprompted, since even these too are exceedingly welcome to me, the ones you pay back out of obligation.
[35 (34).] [...]
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Dissimulati officii obiurgatione morderis in epistula blandiore, qua tibi gratiam
refero sermonis accepti. licet cogitarem, illa potius amica esse conloquia, quae sponte
tribuuntur, at in respondendo referri magis necessariam vicem quam deferri sponta- ^
neam scriptionem, cgo tamen ita adfectus sum proximis litteris, ut nescire me fatear,
reddideris hoc munus an dederis. verum tu cogita, quid epistulae tuae iucunditatis
babiturae sint, quas uon admonitus exhibebis^ cum hae quoque mihi admodum gratae
sint, quas rependis ex debito.
xxxxv (xxxxni). lo
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern symmachus retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog
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