Letter 1027: After your long silence, I was hoping — no, expecting — a letter of generous length.

After your long silence, I was hoping — no, expecting — a letter of generous length. That's how human affairs go: abundance follows scarcity. But my hopes were disappointed. What arrived was a short page, freshly dispatched, and while it was sprinkled with Attic wit and fragrant with literary thyme, it was too lean — enough to clear the palate, not enough to satisfy the appetite. What if I'd been expecting a lavish banquet — a feast fit for the Salian priests, with whole roasts and a public feast — and you'd served me a second course of dainty morsels on a tiny plate? Let me remind you of the Greek saying: "With meager nourishment, though we may be kept from death, we make no progress toward robust health." Do you think I'm going to let your busy schedule off the hook? You're quaestor — I know. Privy to the emperor's council — yes. Arbiter of petitions, framer of laws — I acknowledge it all. Add a thousand other responsibilities. But none of that will ever wear down your talent, bend your generosity, or drain your eloquence. Even if you never take a break from daytime business, surely you don't deny yourself sleep before dawn? Give your duties their due — but give something to friendship too! Or doesn't the line from the comic poet [Terence] mean anything to you? "How I wish it were the custom to serve one's friends even by night!" But why do I go on complaining with my own meager words? I should imitate your recent letter — as I imitate everything else about you. Perhaps you'll say you're too busy for longer letters. I believe it. I can see how unwilling you are to read much, since you barely find time to dictate a little. Farewell.

30 Post longum silentium tuum non minns desiderabam qnam sperabam litteras largiores. namqne his vicibus humana variantur, ut defectui snccedat ubertas. ea me opinio frnstra habnit; siqnidem brevis in manus meas pagina recens a te profecta metiidates M 6 exbausitiones V 7 dierum quae diu sunt F 8 uita uisi sum V ab] ex (Z7) 9 fuit F 10 satis] salutis V V. 0.] nero V, om. M 23 per me om. VM 24 indido 27 adiei nibil V 26 a om. (27) 27 praeueniet V 14 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE VMF pervenit. erat quidem illa Atticis salibas aspersa et thymo odora sed parcior, quae 2 magis fastidium detergeret quam famem frangeret. qnid? si ego cenas dapales et saliare conyiyinm, tum viscerationes atque epulnm postnlassem, tn mihi mensas secnn- das et scitamenta exignae lancis adponeres? fac veniat in mentem, qnid Graeca snper hoc dicat oratio: parvis nntrimentis, inquit, qnamquam a morte defendimur, 5 3 nihil tamen ad robustam valetudinem promovemns. pntasne me de occupatio- nibus tnis esse taciturum ? quaestor es, memini; consilii regalis particeps, scio; precum arbiter legnm conditor, recognosco; adde hnc alia mille remm: numqnam eveniet, ut ingenium tnum labor deterat, benignitatem cnra flectat, facnndiam nsus exhauriat. si diuma negotia numquam distingues quiete, certe antelucano somno nnllns indnlseris. 10 detur aliquod tempus officiis! an tibi pamm exempli videtur in comico, cnm ait: 4 qnam vellem etiam noctu amicis operam mos esset dari! sed cur ego diutius sermonis pauper obgannio? imitanda est mihi epistnla recens, nt cetera momm tuomm. forte occupatus recusas litteras longiores. id ita esse, rite coniecto. video enim, quam nolis multa legere, Qui vix otium est pauca dictare. 15 XXim (XVm) post a. 369.