Letter 7055: I've been writing frequently these past days, but no amount of letters can satisfy the heart of someone who truly cares.

In recent days I have sent letters frequently, but no diligence can satisfy a loving heart. I think, however, that it can suffice for your information that we write that we are well, although the shared pledge [of our affection, i.e. a family member], troubled for a few days by an outpouring [of blood], has diminished the pleasure of our leisure. It has now, by divine aid, begun to recover toward full health. To Messala. [Prefect of the City] [Letter] 81 (80), year 399. Fortune has returned into favor with our fellow citizens, now that the commonwealth has claimed you for itself. To be reckoned, therefore, among the others who hope for fairness is my most friendly Iucundus, whom the eminent prefecture had summoned to the hearing of a private lawsuit, though he had long been gravely afflicted by illness. And he indeed would gladly answer to the matters set forth under your examination, but his health resists his will, for, wounded by a flow of blood, it refuses the uncertainty of travel. Nor will the right of the party opposing his petition be lacking, if the dispute is transferred to your deputy. This, then, is the sum of the request: that, since nothing of the case is lost by reason of place, the removal of travel may secure the man's well-being. [Letter] 82 (81), year 399. To Messala. My praetorship must be prepared and furnished, to the giving of which the advancement of your greatness has emboldened us; for my undertaking will make use of my brother's resources. I ask, therefore, that you devoutly share with us the votive duties, and that you deign to grant your support to my household members, who are setting out for the distant parts of Spain to purchase racehorses, so that the business may be advanced. It would grow long if I wished to run through in a letter the things that must be supplied; I have therefore briefly noted the chief points in the appended list. It will be open to you to add favors, if my pen has omitted any that the petitioner sought. [Apparatus and page-header material follows in the source: variant readings ("indicauit P"; "praefector aeminens P, first hand"; "est illi" Mercer; "intinerum P, in tenerum V"; "praestaiidi V, res tantas P, second hand"), the note "OXFORD," the running head "200 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE" (Letters of Symmachus, p. 200), and the opening header of the next letter: Letter 83 (82), year 399.]

10 Superioribus diebus litteras frequentavi, sed nulla adsiduitas animum potest aman- tis explere. puto autem vobis ad cognitionem posse sufficere, quod valere nos scribi- mus, licet commune pignus paucis diebus effusione vexata otii nostri minuerit volup- tatem. quae iam divina ope ad plenam sanitatem coepit emergere. AD MESSALAM. PVM 15 LXXXI (LXXX) a. 399. Fortuna cum civibus nostris revertit in gratiam, postquam te sibi respublica vin- dicavit. adnumerandus est igitur ceteris sperantibus aequitatem lucundus amicissimus meus, quem morbo iam diu gravem praefectnra eminens ad cogoitionem privatae litis exciverat. et illi quidem votivum sub examine tuo respondere propositis, sed valetudo 20 obnititur voluntati, quae effusione sanguinis sauciata itinerum recusat incertum. nec deerit ins adversantis petitioni, si ad vicarium tuum disceptatio transferatur. haec igitur summa est postulati, ut cum causae nihil de loco pereat, salutem homini per- egrinatio remota conciliet. LXXXn (LXXXI) a. 399. 25 ADMESSALAM. Instruenda mihi atque adomanda praetura est, ad cuius nos editionem magnitn- dinis tuae processus animavit; inceptum enim meum viribus fratris utetur. quaeso igitur, ut mecum religiose votiva officia partiaris et familiaribns meis ad Hispaniae longinqua pergentibus ob equorum cumlium coemptionem suffragia promovendi negotii »0 digneris adnuere. longum fiat, si velim litteris praestanda percurrere; capita igitur reram subiecto indiculo strictim notavi. tibi integmm erit adicere beneficia, si qua stilus petentis omisit. (i. t. spiritu) indicauit P 18 praefector aeminens P 1 m. 19 est iUi Mtreer 20 intinerum P, in tenemm V praestaiidi V, res tantas P 2 m. OXFORD 200 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE LXXXm (LXXXH) a. 399.