Letter 2027: Although rumor has already brought you the news — that you have been relieved of your public responsibilities — I...

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 379 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|AI-assisted
monasticism

Although rumor has already brought you the news — that you have been relieved of your public responsibilities — I thought a written confirmation would be more trustworthy. So I commit the report to writing. But although you are freed from the burden of public affairs, do not imagine that private leisure brings no duties of its own.

The good man who leaves office carries with him the habits of diligence and the reputation of service. Use your freedom wisely, and do not let idleness creep into the place where industry once reigned. Farewell.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Quamvis litteras meas fama praevenerit, quae exoneratum te publicis necessita- 30
tibus nuntiavit, tamen quo fidelior esset adsertio, scriptis confirmo rumorem. sed licet
publicae rei absolutione laeteris , volo te adversum incerta muniri ; videlicet ut sub

ameas] P l m., admeas P 2 m, K, meis ^, uigilans M uigiliis ^, om, M 11 conferre 0, ut meas

quoque uigiliaa aliquid priuatis negotiis tnis conferre patiaris cod. Cuiae, , fortaase ut a me, sis, quoqiie ui-
gilianim aliquid et q, 8, 13 subiecit V 14 fugam P 15 reserualem P 1 m.

actorum confectione vel tnomm, si adhnc retines potestatem, vel vicariae praefectnrae, PVF
qnae tibi poscenti aeqna non deerit. diligentiae tuae ratio digeratur, quae possit osten-
dere, qnot numero animalia conlocaris, et quo apparatu instmxeris mansiones, et quan-
tum in titnlis fiscalibns exigendis tua cura promoverit. hoc enim testimonio adversum
5 omnes vel fortnitas querellas vel adfectatas insidias protegeris.

XXVm a. 389?

Revision history

  1. 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import

    Initial corpus import from Seeck edition OCR from Internet Archive.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog

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