Letter 5077: If the conditions of my present situation permitted, I would throw myself into your affairs even without being asked.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 398 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|AI-assisted
monasticism

If the conditions of my present situation permitted, I would throw myself into your affairs even without being asked. But as matters stand, I must serve from a distance, offering what I can through letters and through the agents I have dispatched. Please do not mistake my physical absence for indifference. The spirit is willing even when the body is bound by duty elsewhere. Whatever help I can provide, consider it already given.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Si condicio temporis mei sineret, votis me tuis etiam non rogatus ingererem. qua lo
in re certus animi mei adsertionem verborum, sicuti arbitror, non requiris. nunc for-
tunae meae qualitas in tantum nos a festivis excusat officiis, ut solacia insuper requi-
rat aiiena. ergo quia in manu mea interim non est laetos frequentare conventus, tuae
opis est levare maerentem. quorsum istud'? inquies. ut fratrem nostrum Florentinum
clarissimum atque omatissimum vimm peregrinationi meae cohaerere patiaris. tantum 15
peto, nt ab eo interpreteris inpendi ex hac commoratione, quam mihi tribuit, quantum
ex eius praesentia voluptatis habuisses. vale.

Related Letters