Letter 9014: I perform my duty whenever I greet you with the customary courtesy, and I do not conceal my gratitude that you repay...

I am doing my duty whenever I pay you the courtesy of a greeting, and I do not hide that I return thanks, because the requital of your writings in turn visits me frequently. But these things ought not to be drawn out at greater length, since they reject the boastings of good friendship; this is what I now want obtained from you: that you deign to aid the concern of my people with a letter and with an appointed officer, the men to whom I have assigned the purchase from Spain of curule four-horse teams for the equipment of the praetorian office. I beg besides that you grant by letter a confirmation of the conveyances of horses which the illustrious gentleman Theodorus dispatched, lest, the judge having been changed, the authority of the favor grow slack. I would canvass your good graces over these matters with excessive entreaty, but with your modest ears simplicity is more effective, and your sense of decency more gladly assents to what is asked with confidence. I would have you hold, however, that now indeed I am sparing in requesting, but that after the granting I shall be lavish in rendering thanks for what is done. XXVI (XXVII). To Aurelianus. It gladdens my mind that I have often charged myself with the fault of writing to you negligently. For it is a sign of your love to desire in turn the things which you furnish. And yet the resolve of concealing [...] your [...] had vowed [...]. It saddened me, I confess - a boasting of a favor rendered void that was neither becoming to you nor expected by me. Therefore, lest your honorable modesty should write back anything similar, I preferred to suppress a mute grief; for among absent persons the alternating contest of letters often proceeds to hatreds. Now I return to the use of a plain pen, grateful rather to your goodwill than guilty before chance; I beg you, that you now cease to think my friendship - which has laid upon you no burden - a costly thing. XXVII (XXV) [A.D. 399-401]. To Alexander. You will by no right blame my silence toward you, if you consider your own. And perhaps the bashfulness of this matter must more justly be undergone by you, who, often sending letters to Rome on business, passed over the duties of friendship toward us; whereas the mere purchase of wild beasts compelled me to pass by Aquileia. Nor does the forgetting of a single occasion deserve so much resentment as your praiseworthy self, amid the constant comings and goings of your people, has drawn upon yourself in ill will through your contempt of me. But let there be pardon for both of us, although the negligence be unequal. Hereafter both restore yourself the neglected duty and grant us the means of writing back through the same persons; for the seeking out of those traveling hence is difficult for me. Again the service of the pen will fall idle, unless those of your household who are about to return to you take up [letters] from us. Farewell. XXVIII (XXVI). To Maximus. That you drive wild beasts by the hunt and in the winter months range over the icy heights of the Apennine, I had supposed from my estimation of your health; for you seemed more a friend to letters than to labors. Of these two things the one, unknown about you, the gift from the woods made plain; the other, well believed, the elegance of your pages confirmed. Wherefore among the companions of Apollo and Diana you will be counted a follower of both, even though, as your writings attest, the glory of the hunter's art delights you more. For when you described that you had wandered over the snowy passes, you danced for joy in your words beyond the moderation of a letter, exultant no doubt from the steep height and still glowing with the outcome of your mountain exploit. Meanwhile it had been enough to send the spoils of the Apennine; but the many things added from the courtyard could have caused distaste, had not love of you removed the surfeit. Farewell. XXVIIII [A.D. 397].

Facio officium meum, si quando te cultu salutationis inpertio, nec dissimulo re- ferre grates, quod invicem me frequentet remnneratio scriptoram tuomm. sed haec 30 produci longius non oportet, quia bonae amicitiae iactationes refutant; illud nunc de 4 duxeram] {Pj, didiceram (/7) 8 vox dissimalauerim uUima huiua epistulae tst in (77), quae se- quuntur, primua edidit Scioppixu Verixim. Illl 13 subiunge F 10 certamen ***** q^ae / me] Lectiua, ad me ^l^^^ torias F* ueniente] /7, ineunte F 20 te per] inserit Mercer, om. F equarum F* 21 oc- casionem quoque F^ 22 equorum reditum om. F^ intemperies] Lypsiu»^ temperies F 25 de- ciaui F^ litem] ^i, litterae F^ / m., lictori F^ 2 m, nec] TFi, n F2 26 eia meae] T, me eius F eximietatis tuae] Wingendorpj aetatis tuae F^ praestantiae tuae F^, etiam tuos F^ 29 saltationis /7 LIBER vnU. 243 te impetratum volo, ut litteris et apparitore decreto iuvare digneris curam meorum, 11 quibus emendas ex Hispania curules quadrigas in apparatum praetoriae functionis in- iunxi. oro praeterea, ut equorura tractoriis, quas vir inlustris Theodoru» emisit, con- 2 firmationem per epistulam pracstes, ne mutato iudice beneficii lentescat auctoritas. & exambirem super his nimio preeatu gratiam tuam , sed apud verecundas aures tuas simplicitas efficacior est, et libentius pudor adnuit, quod cum fiducia postulatur. ve- lim tamen teneas, nunc quidem in petendo esse me parcum, sed fore in agendis post impetrationem gratiis copiosum. XXVI (XXUII). 10 AVRELIANO. luvat animum meum , quod saepe mihi vitio rortis scribendi ad te neglegentiam. amoris enim tui signum est vicissim desiderare, quae praestas. et tamen dissimu- landi destinatio tua voverat. contristavit me fateor nec tibi conveniens nec mihi sperata iactatio irriti 15 beneficii. ne quid igitur ingenua verecundia tua simile rescriberet, malui premere mutum dolorem; nam inter absentes altema epistularum decertatio plerumque ad odia procedit. nunc redeo in usum simplicis stili gratus magis voluntati tuae quam reus casui ; te oro , ut iam desinas amicitiam meam , quae nihil tibi indixerit oneris, damnosam putare. 20 XXVn (XXV) a. 399—401. ALEXANDRO. Silentium circa te meum nullo iure culpabis, si tuum cogites. et fortasse iustius tibi huius rei subeunda est verecundia, qui ob rem Romam saepe litteras mittens amicitiae circa nos munia praeteristi; meos autem sola ferarum emptio Aqui- 25 leiam conpulit praeterire. nec tantum susce/isionis meretur unius occasionis oblivio, quantum laudabilitas tua inter adsiduos commeatus tuorum ex contemptu mei con- traxit invidiae. sed sU venia utrique nostrum, quamquam inparis neglegentiae. post- hac et ipse omissum munus instaura et nobis rescribendi per eosdem copiam praesta; difficilis est enim mihi hinc pergentium inquisitio. denuo stiii cessabit officium, nisi 30* familiam tui nostra ad te redituri susceperint. vale. 2 mendas /7 3 oro praeterea — 4 auctoritas] f, om. {U) tis] LyptiuSy duxi fortis F^, duxi sortis F^ 13 poit dissimulandi spaliwn vacwim irium versuum in rn^ dissimulandi destinatione F 14 tua uouerat] F^ oim, F me fateor] F^ quia F est post conueniens tnser. F desperata F^ 15 tua] tgo^ om, F 16 mutum] ego, mntuom F nos add. F^ 2m, 25 suscensionis] Lypsiu*, successionis (r)F 27 sit] Lypsius, om, F in partes F^ neglegentiae posthac] F^ negligentiae sumus posthac F^, negligentiae slmus posthac F^ perint 8eioppiu$, nisi rei famUia nostra ad te reditus acceperit F, nisi ad te redituri susceperint F 31 244 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE XXVIII (XXVI). MAXIMO. Agitare te venatibus feras et hibernis mensibus Appennini gelida lustrare, vale- tndinis tuae aestimatione putavi ; amicior enim litteris , quam laboribus videbaris. horum alterum de te ignoratum munus silvestre patefecit, alte- s rum bene creditum paginarum tuarum cultus adseruit. quare inter sodales Apollinis ac Dianae sectator utriusque numerabere, etsi te magis, ut scripta testantur, vena- ticae artis gloria iuvat. nam cum te nivosis saltibus inerrasse describeres, supra epistulae temperamentum verbis tripudiasti, nimirum laetus ex arduo et adhuc calens montani operis eventu. interea satis fnerat Appennini spolia misisse; adiecta autem lo de corte plura fastidio esse potuerunt, nisi amor tui removisset satietatem. vale. XXVnn a. 397.