Letter 3047: It is true that rumor is swift, but I will not agree with the Mantuan poet [Virgil] beyond that point.
It is a true saying that rumor is swift; but I do not agree any further with the Mantuan [Virgil], who thinks that it ought to be reckoned among evils. For what is more splendid than rumor, when it bathes the ears and mind of good people with glad tidings? To me, certainly, it is exceedingly welcome, since it was the first to bring the report of your acquittal. I was in the country, grieving in spirit over the loss of my parent; there the rumor, having followed me, freed me from the cares which we were carrying on your account. Nor was its trustworthiness lacking. For at once I believed that to be true which I knew to accord both with your innocence and with the fairness of the times. There came too your own letter, so charming and graceful that, in a matter already known, I thought fresh joy concerning you was being announced to me. In it there was the confidence of a good conscience, but together with praise of public justice. For you both gave thanks to the greatest princes [emperors] as one acquitted, and complained of fortune alone as one innocent. But what need of more? When [will you come] to Rome, when [...]
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Vera res est, famam esse velocem: sed non ultra adsentior Mantuano, qui eam
putat in malis debere numerari. nam quid hac praeclarius, cum laetis nuntiis rigat
10 aures et mentem bonorum? mihi certe oppido grata est, postquam purgationis tuae
prima vexit indicium. ruri eram maestus animi ob amissam parentem; eo me secuta
fama curis, quas de te gerebamus, absolvit. nec fides defuit. ilico enim credidi
verum esse, quod noveram et tuae innocentiae et aequitati temporum convenire. ac-
cesserunt etiam litterae tuae tam lepidae ac venustae, ut in re iam cognita novum
15 mihi putarem de te gaudium nuntiari. erat in illis fiducia conscientiae bonae sed cum
laude iustitiae publicae. nam et principibus maximis gratias ut absolutus egisti, et
de sola fortuna ut innocens questus es. verum quid ultra? quando Romam, quando
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern symmachus retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog
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