Letter 6001: On matters that are plain and obvious, it's better to consult the facts than listen to gossip.
On matters that are plain and obvious, it's better to consult the facts than listen to gossip. So let us acknowledge the credit due to divine providence for our city's modest food supply — not from the mouth of the crowd, but from the reasoning of sound judgment. Those who are slow to appreciate blessings inevitably feel a belated gratitude when hardship follows plenty. Our common people, previously stirred into hostility toward so great a citizen by the efforts of a few troublemakers, now openly show their change of heart. As for your colleagues, their notorious and stubborn jealousy won't let them admit what the truth compels them to think. So they blush in silence, and like men convicted in court, they cannot bring themselves to say about you what they are forced to feel.
But there's no need to go on at length. It is enough that public opinion has come back around in favor of your reputation. May you live long — finding comfort in your father's celebrated memory, and may he find renewal in your well-being. Farewell.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
De rebus liquidis atque manifestis rectius natura quam fama consulitur. ergo in
tenui patriae victu superioris providentiae laudem refotam non ex ore multitudinis sed
ex ratione humani ingenii colligamus. necesse est enim seros aestimatores beneficio-
2 rum, cum succedant angustiae copiis, dissimulatam gratiam conlatione sentire. et
plebes quidem nostra paucorum studiis antehac in odium tanti civis snbacta testatur 25
pro[)alam paenitendi correctionem ; collegamm vero notissimus pervicax livor noii sinit
fatcri, nuod cogit veritas iudicare. quare tacito adficiuntur rubore et convictomm si-
3 miles proferre de vobis nequeunt, quae sentire coguntur. sed haec longius exeqni
cundis VI, secundis litteris M 5 nuntiasti plurimnmque sors composita contrahit Af, sequiiur VJl^ 39
formis V residere (reddere V^) plerumque fors disposita etc. sequitur Vll^ 39 in V, pars rtliqua epiatu-
lae deeat tn V^, pont Vll, 39 coUocata est in V^
16 commemoratione V
bus in rcM. P ergo] er V 26 libor T, liber P non] eod. Pithoei, om. PVM 27 ro-
bore P 1 m. simUis P 1 m. V
I
LIBER V. VI. 153
non est necesse; snfficit enim redisse ad conciliationem famae vestrae publicnm testi- PVM
moninm. viyat modo et in patris celebri memoria solacinm tnum et in tna salnte
patema reparatio. yale.
n a. 395 /
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