Letter 1064: Take heart — be patient with the duty that's been imposed on you.

Take heart — be patient with the duty that's been imposed on you. It often happens that proven merit is called back for a second round of service. Consider: do you think Atilius [a Roman exemplar of civic duty, who left his plow for public office] was happy to trade his fasces for the plow and halt his panting oxen in the middle of sowing, a rustic magistrate? Any man of solid worth gets claimed for the public good. Set aside for now those pleasant daydreams of your happy retirement — the estate rich with autumn's bounty, sunny in winter, first to coax roses from the earth in spring, cool with shade and stream in summer heat. But why do I stray from the point? In treating your complaints I've only stirred up fresh longing. Be who you are — patient in every burden — and discharge the service owed to the emperors, who have weighed your merit more than your wishes.

Sit tibi animns aeqnus et patiens mnneris imperati. saepe usn venit, nt in secnndos labores virtus probata reparetur. quid tn? libenter Atilio factnm pntas, qnod fascibus aratra mntayit et in medio sementis opere anhelos boves statnit rusticus magi- 30 Btratns? qnisqne bonae frngis est, in publicnm commodnm vindicatnr. pone illas in- 8u$e, om. PVM 6 amititia V 10 explio ad agoriu ptextatu inoipit ad probum P, on^. VMF 12 om, VMF 13 breuis PV lectiones V 15 epistolae F striDgor F 16 atque om. M, ideo om, V antiquior miM F loquendi c<^ia. si uidebimur habundi iudicemur seduli F noiuptas PV 26 om. VM 29 mutabit PV mutauit? at in medio — magiatratua. qniaque 8u$e an- helaa VM 2& SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE PVM terim cogitationes felicis otii tui: ^quam bene nrbana opera novis fastigiis excitabaml nbi ager noster vel ille autnmno omnis copiae ferax vel ille hieme apricus, aut qui vere anni primus rosas humo exuit, aut qui sub aestivo sole de nemore et fonte fri- gescit?' sed quid a proposito excidi? dum medicinam facio querellis tuis, ultro desi-' deranda suggessi. esto, ut es, curarum omnium tolerans, et debitam operaip solve & principibus, qui rationem magis meriti tui quam voluntatis habuerunt. LVnn (Lni) a. 368—383.