Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
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All letters (595)
This is a letter where the social gap between us actually shapes what we write.
I'm overjoyed to hear you're well and that you haven't forgotten our friendship amid the hardships of public business.
[To an unnamed friend] I'm renewing my recommendation of Euscius, not starting one from scratch — when you were in...
Your silence has been long, and I've endured it patiently in the hope that you'd eventually write.
I'm in good spirits now that you've remembered your promise and set out.
I received your letter with such pleasure — coming as it did after a long silence — that I confess I've completely...
This letter spans several pages and is heavily interspersed with critical apparatus.
For some time now the silent Lucrine waters have been longing for you, and the smooth bay of Baiae, and Puteoli...
The opportunity of a reliable carrier has given me a chance to pay you my respects by letter.
[To a friend about Anastasius] You know our friend Anastasius well — you've seen him often in your own home.
It serves the public interest that greater responsibilities have been entrusted to you.
I was glad to learn from your letter that everything is going well for you and that your public responsibilities are...
This letter contains multiple sections interspersed with critical apparatus.
...so that we may hear good news of your health and your affairs, and pass this short time we plan to spend in...
Your servant delivered two letters from you, and I would be guilty of bad faith if I did not reply in kind.
You know that our silence is an equal offense on both sides, and so the blame is unfairly placed on me alone for...
To a friend (~371 AD):
Among the good things parents leave behind, friendship too deserves to be inherited -- and perhaps one should pursue...
May this custom endure, and may the mutual assurance of well-being be renewed between us year after year.
Other letters of mine have been chasing you across Spain -- I had assumed you were living there because of the...
You ask me for longer letters.
When I was surveying in writing the civil and military achievements of our lord Theodosius [Emperor Theodosius I, r.
My friend Gaudentius has taken refuge in your protection -- a man who deserves to be loved in every respect.
...I entered Milan on the day before the Kalends of March [February 28], after a long and winding detour.
I take great pleasure whenever I receive one of your letters.
I owe it to men of proven worth to recommend them to you, since admission to your circle of friends is a supreme gift.
While you are busy relieving the hardships of the provincials, a heavier blow has fallen on the Apulians.
To a friend: Even when I was staying in Milan, I observed the courtesy of greeting you, and now that I have...
To our friend Castor, who is returning to Campania, I've entrusted more verbal instructions about household matters...
If you know my heart at all, you can't doubt that poor health was the only thing keeping me from writing.
My son is out of danger, thank God, but he's suffering from a weakness that borders on illness.
You excuse yourself for your long silence.
Your letter was trimmed to Spartan brevity but overflows with substance.
And if fortune favors, I'll follow the letter in person soon.
Break into the gifts of familiar writing and share with me whatever you've accomplished in administering the city's...
I reap annual harvests of joy from your letters -- this is the return, these are the riches that Spain pays me.
I ask that, having been admitted into your clientele, he may be glad both that my patronage has been of use to him...
My dear Zenodorus doesn't yet know you in person, but your reputation has already won his admiration.
I had long been waiting for your letters, uncertain in my mind about what so prolonged a silence might mean.
...and you care for me, but I worry that you might take up some fight on my behalf while I'm away and draw hostility...
The results will show how much your diligence has accomplished for the public good, once unnecessary expenditures...
My brothers Dorotheus and Septimius, praiseworthy men, carried a single letter from you.
Whatever we were hoping for from Sicily is still uncertain.
Neither the departure of our distinguished brother Proelianus allowed me to stay silent, nor would my own affection...
Although I know that modesty is kin to virtue, I nevertheless wished to find in the letters of your highness an...
SYMMACHUS TO AUSONIUS:
My son Caecilianus, a distinguished man currently managing the grain supply of our common fatherland, has learned...
Our brother Helpidius was called away not only by desire for your company but also by the consul's letter.
You're trying to lure me out of Campania's embrace with praises of your Tiburtine estate.
I've been idle for some time in the retreats of Campania and had no opportunity to write.
After the customary greeting, I'll pass along the request of Gaetulicus, an agent in rebus [an imperial courier and...
I know this letter will reach you late — either because of the duties that will keep you busy for a while, or...
You were joking, I think, when you wrote that you'd been frightened by soldiers on the road -- a transparent excuse...
Fortune often upsets the best-laid plans -- and that's exactly what happened to me.
You've been free of public duties for some time -- you should have returned in person rather than soothing your...
I recently received a letter from Euscius reporting that our charioteers and some stage performers have been put...
Friendship was invented so that the exchange of favors might serve mutual benefit.
...simply put, the situation demands that the discomfort of being away from home should make you appreciate what you...
It is superfluous labor to recommend the conspicuous -- like holding a torch before someone standing in sunlight.
I was overjoyed to hear that your health has been restored — your well-being is always my highest wish.
Our reasons for not writing are different, but the result is the same.
I am staying in Milan for the moment, summoned for the ceremonies of our lord Valentinian's inaugural consulship.
I've already used up my writing time with the servant heading back to Campania, but I didn't want your saintly and...
Good gods, how nothing is safe or certain for us mortals!
I could have borne your silence patiently, knowing your habits, had not the fear of illness made me anxious.
I delight in the regular frequency of your letters and draw abundant joy from this gift.
I've been writing frequently these past days, but no amount of letters can satisfy the heart of someone who truly cares.
I have exchanged the leisure of home for a pleasant journey abroad, traveling at the command of our lord Valentinian.
I testify that my servant Firmus has completed his military service with honor.
I don't mind writing to Your Excellency often, even though I've received nothing in return.
The sight of your family will certainly fill you with joy.
Since our dear Sibidius returned to Rome and reported how badly my daughter is suffering physically, my own spirits...
I believe my letter reached you some time ago, explaining that my friend Iucundus, though eager for your judgment,...
Your letters have pushed me to do what I was already longing to do -- to openly seek the friendship I had long been...
You have been silent for a long time, but I must not imitate such an example.
I feel the affection you think it right to return, but I'm deeply surprised that you suspect my son Flavianus -- who...
...may he carry back your lasting affection and a greeting in return.
Our Senate's delegates have returned after handling everything successfully.
I make a point of writing to you often, so it never seems my care for our friendship has cooled.
I know it speaks to our friendship that I involve you in my difficulties.
Your letter has kept me in suspense, and I'm anxious to hear encouraging news.
My friends Magnus and Magnillus have a petition I've agreed to support.
Avitus, bishop, to Faustus and Symmachus, senators of the city of Rome.
A good commander knows to encourage the proven valor of a soldier who has been tested in battle, so that courage,...
[Pope Symmachus (r. 498-514) was a pope whom Ennodius energetically defended during the disputed papal election of...
While the apostolic see is graced by the care of Your Holiness's crown, and the heavenly governance of the Church...
Although the distinguished Laurentius attends to your cause with the devotion it deserves, I add my own voice — not...
A necessary matter of practical importance has prompted this letter.
Petition is never ineffective when it reaches a man of justice and compassion.
My son Boniface the deacon has told me that your Experience had written to say that a monastery built by Labina, a religious lady, is now ready for monks to be settled in it. And indeed I praised your solicitude; but we wish that some other place than that which has been assigned for the purpose should be provided; but with the condition, in vie...