Letter 7001: Take this opening salvo of fatherly words with good cheer, and be generous in returning the favor going forward.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusBrothers of Symmachus|c. 365 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
barbarian invasionillnesstravel mobility

Be eager at this token of a father's counsel, and thereafter be generous toward us with an equal measure of dutiful service. At the same time receive, as accords with your own wish, that the fasces of your praetorship are to be happily deferred to that year in which, with the goodwill of the gods invoked, I too may gladly take part. Rejoice, therefore, at the postponement you longed for, and read it as years of life and honor prolonged for you [for the things that are deferred become the more enduring], and do not doubt that fortune has provided for us both, so that your magistracy may be aided by your father's presence and I may enjoy the pleasure of your festivities in person. 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AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

5 Snme alacer patemi sermonis auspicium et deinceps officii parilis in nos esto
munificus. simnl accipe, qnod voto tuo congmit, fasces praeturae tuae in eum an-
num feliciter proferendos, cui advocata numinum voluntate ego quoque laetus intersim.
optato igitnr laetare processu et propagatos tibi annos yitae atque honoris interpretare
[longiora enim finnt, quae differuntur], nec dubites utrique nostrum prospexisse fortn-

10 nam, ut et tuus magistratus iuvetur praesentia patris et ego festorum tuorum coram
defi*uar voluptate. vale.

n a. 402.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern symmachus retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog

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