Letter 6036: As long as the rumors are still circulating and nothing is settled, stay calm and enjoy your leisure.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 383 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
monasticism
As long as the rumors are still circulating and nothing is settled, stay calm and enjoy your leisure. If any news worth trusting comes my way, I won't hold back from passing it on -- or from giving you my advice.
For now, take this one piece of counsel before the situation demands it: there is absolutely no way you can refuse the honor of the imperial summons. As for your brother, we've heard nothing beyond what was already communicated. I'm writing this from the wedding at Ostia, where the younger son of the distinguished Sallustius invited us. But I'll have to hurry back to Rome soon for the games preparations -- a burden that would be far easier if you were here to share the work. Farewell.
Qaamdiu iactata ramoribus tempore diffemntTir, caramm vacnas otiare; si qaid
aadita dignam fideqae sabnixum recentior sermo pervexerit, neque nuntiandi neque
h suadendi partibus abstinebo. unum hoc ante rei necessitatem de meo sume consilio,
nulla ratione te posse evocationis honorificentiam deprecari. de fratre autem vestro 2
praeter mandatum nihil etiam nunc opinionis accepimus. ipsi haec de nuptiis Ostien-
sibus. ad quas nos viri inlustris Sallustii filius iunior evocavit, contulimus in paginam,
sed continuo ob ludoram praeparationem Roma repetenda est. diu enim mihi ista
10 cnranda sunt, quae facile, si adesset sanctitas vestra, communis diligentia posset ab-
solvere. vale.
XXXVI (XXXVII) a. 398.
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As long as the rumors are still circulating and nothing is settled, stay calm and enjoy your leisure. If any news worth trusting comes my way, I won't hold back from passing it on -- or from giving you my advice.
For now, take this one piece of counsel before the situation demands it: there is absolutely no way you can refuse the honor of the imperial summons. As for your brother, we've heard nothing beyond what was already communicated. I'm writing this from the wedding at Ostia, where the younger son of the distinguished Sallustius invited us. But I'll have to hurry back to Rome soon for the games preparations -- a burden that would be far easier if you were here to share the work. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.