Letter 5037: I would not have you judge the character of the man I am recommending by the standards of the others who handle...
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 383 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To: A friend (name lost)
Date: ~383 AD
Context: A recommendation for a man named Ammonius, coupled with a reproach for the friend's infrequent letters.
I would not have you judge the character of the man I am recommending by the standards of the others who handle senatorial accounts. He was not born into a mediocre station or the lowest class, but guards the honor of his birth with personal modesty. That is why I did not consider it beneath me to support a man I know well with the testimony of a letter, and your own singular nobility should not hesitate to embrace a man you see endorsed by my approval. This much is said on behalf of Ammonius. But I should not conceal my own longing for your words, a desire made all the more keen by the rarity of your letters.
Nolo ex moribus ceterorum, qui census senatorios tractant, etiam huius ingenium,
quem commendo, perpendas. est enim non mediocri loco aut infima sorte progenitus,
30 sed honestatem natalium pudore custodiens. atque ideo nec ego indecorum putavi
bene cognitum prosequi testimonio litterarum , nec singularis generositas tua debet de
eius amore dubitare, quem videt nobis adstipulantibus adprobari. et haec quidem pro
Ammonio satis dicta sunt, ipse autem desiderium sermonis tui silere non debeo, cuius
adpetentiam scriptorum tuorum raritas vehementius excitavit. v
ius (/*) porfyriae P, porphiriae F, porflriae Af 5 acolumnam V, om, M 6 sutelis] lureH^,
tatelis PVM inueteraU] M, inuetera PV ira P quatitnr F, quaeritur M 8 po88/////nis P
prodest V mescere P 1 m. 16 porfyriae P, porphiriae V, porphyriae Qusebius M postumius M
tri meo F, om. M spercino P 21 curas sensuum quam V 22 conferendis F debui erit
/taque P, debuerit itaque F, debuerim itaque M 24 existimatione VM
25 «q* auf. symmachi. uo. ex/licit ad felicem incipit eiusdem ad saUustium P, explicit ad felicem
incipit ad salustium F, om. V 27 om. VF 28 censos P 1 m. ///atorios P 29 mediocre V
inflrma P, inflrma F, informa V 30 nec ego] non F 33 Ammonia] ammonitione F 34 ad
paenitentiam V
18*
1 40 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE
LVI (Lini) a. 401.
◆
From:Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator
To:A friend (name lost)
Date:~383 AD
Context:A recommendation for a man named Ammonius, coupled with a reproach for the friend's infrequent letters.
I would not have you judge the character of the man I am recommending by the standards of the others who handle senatorial accounts. He was not born into a mediocre station or the lowest class, but guards the honor of his birth with personal modesty. That is why I did not consider it beneath me to support a man I know well with the testimony of a letter, and your own singular nobility should not hesitate to embrace a man you see endorsed by my approval. This much is said on behalf of Ammonius. But I should not conceal my own longing for your words, a desire made all the more keen by the rarity of your letters.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.