Letter 7006: I've just received the letter I'd been hoping for, and it showed both the devotion of your spirit and the progress...
I have received the letter of your affection that I had been longing for of late, in which were shown both the diligence of your mind and the progress of your talent. The brevity of the letter alone in no way satisfied a father's longing. I write this so that you may understand how much pleasure I derived from your discourse, I who complain that some quantity of it was lacking. For who would wish for fullness except of good things? Hereafter, then, write more generously, my light, so that the mind of your reader may be filled by the more abundant gift of your pen. 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AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
10
Desideratas proxime amabilitatis tuae litteras sumpsi, quibus indicabatur et sedu-
litas animi tui' et profectus ingenii. sola epistulae brevitas nequaquam paterno desi-
derio satisfecit. quod eo scribo, ut intellegas, quantum ex sermone tuo ceperim vo-
luptatis, qui queror cjpiam defuisse. quis enim optet satietatem nisi rerum bonarumf
posthac igitur indulgentius scribe, lux raea, ut pleniore stili tui munere legentis ani- is
mus expleatur. vale.
VII a. 400.
Revision history
- 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
Related Letters
If I knew how to revolve around the doors of the powerful, I would myself be one of the powerful.
Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol.
The death is still with us, and I am therefore compelled to remain where I am, partly by the duty of distribution, and partly out of sympathy for the distressed. Even now, therefore, I have not been able to accompany our reverend brother Hypatius, whom I am able to style brother, not in mere conventional language, but on account of relationship...
1. It has been reported to me by Actiacus the deacon, that certain men have moved you to anger against me, by falsely stating me to be ill-disposed towards your excellency. I cannot be astonished at a man in your position being followed by certain sycophants.
To Photinus [a heretical Christian bishop who denied Christ's divinity from a different angle than the Arians].