Letter 3008: I honor the ancients, but not so much that I would rank below them the virtues or merits of my contemporaries.
EPISTULA VIII
Sidonius Eucherio suo salutem.
1. Veneror antiquos, non tamen ita, ut qui aequaevorum meorum virtutes aut merita postponam. neque si Romana respublica in haec miseriarum extrema defluxit, ut studiosos sui numquam remuneretur, non idcirco Brutos Torquatosque non pariunt saecula mea. quorsum istaec, inquis? de te mihi ad te sermo est, vir efficacissime, cui debet respublica quod supra dictis solutum laudat historia.
2. quapropter ignari rerum temeraria iudicia suspendant nec perseverent satis aut suspicere praeteritos aut despicere praesentes; quandoquidem facile clarescit rempublicam morari beneficia, vos mereri. quamquam mirandum granditer non sit, natione foederatorum non solum inciviliter Romanas vires administrante verum etiam fundamentaliter eruente si nobilium virorum militariumque et supra vel spem nostrae vel opinionem partis adversae bellicosorum non tam defuerunt facta quam praemia. vale.
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