Letter 5053: You have opened the door to correspondence late.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 390 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship
From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
To: [Unnamed correspondent]
Date: ~390 AD
Context: Symmachus chides his correspondents for being slow to open the exchange of letters.

You have opened the door to correspondence late. It was your duty to begin this exchange of letters, as the sweetness of friendship demands. Now that the way is open, let us not allow it to close again. The pleasures of correspondence are too great to be sacrificed to laziness. I have much to share with you and look forward to hearing your news in return.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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