Letter 6026: My dear Zenodorus doesn't yet know you in person, but your reputation has already won his admiration.
My dear Zenodorus doesn't yet know you in person, but your reputation has already won his admiration. Although official duties call him urgently to Lucania and Bruttium [regions in southern Italy], he's determined to make a detour just to see you. I introduce him into your friendship like a mystagogue [a guide into sacred mysteries -- Symmachus uses the word with playful formality] and personally guarantee he's worthy of your affection.
If you put any stock in a father's testimony, let this young man find, at his very first visit, a warmth that you're known never to have denied any newcomer. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
The enormous population of Rome makes it clear that even provisions brought from distant regions could barely...
The season at the villa has given me the leisure to reflect on what the office demands and what it gives in return;...
It seems I have received young Gaius as the child of three fathers: the one who begot him, you his uncle and...
I will come to you shortly to consecrate your new bishop, and I want you to understand what will happen and what it...
I have written to you before about your need for a bishop.