Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 377 AD|symmachus
Our ancestors did well and wisely — as was their way in so many things — when they built the temples of Honor and Virtue side by side with matching facades. Their insight anticipated what we've seen in you: that the rewards of honor are found where the merits of virtue reside. And nearby stands the shrine of the Muses with its sacred spring, because the road to high office is often paved with letters.
These ancestral principles are the proof of your consulship. It was your gravity of character and your mastery of the liberal arts that won you the curule chair [the consul's ivory seat]. Many will strive hereafter to pursue the good arts, the true sisters of praise and genuine literature — but who among them will find either so fortunate a pupil or so grateful a patron?
Don't we know that Alexander the Great, on whom fortune smiled beyond all wishing, did nothing for his teacher Aristotle? That Fulvius, who gave Ennius nothing but a captured cloak from the Aetolian spoils, disgraced himself by such stinginess? That neither Scipio Africanus the Younger repaid Panaetius, nor Rutilius repaid Opillius, nor Pyrrhus rewarded Cineas, nor Mithridates of Pontus rewarded Metrodorus, with wages worthy of their liberal education?
But now our most learned emperor [Gratian], generous with both wealth and honors, keeps returning to repay you as though the principal on his debt were never exhausted.
In the midst of all this joy, what words can make up for the fact that I can't be there? I'm deeply afraid you'll misread my excuse and underestimate how happy I am for you.
[The letter continues with further classical allusions and apologies for absence, but the OCR becomes fragmentary.]
Bene ac sapienter maiores nostri, ut sunt alia aetatis illius, aedes Honori atque
Virtuti gemella facie iunctim locarunt conmenti, quod in te vidimus, ibi esse praemia
honoris, ubi sunt merita virtutis. sed enim propter etiam Camenarum religio sacro
fontis advertitur, quia iter ad capessendos magistratus saepe litteris promovetur. haec 25
parentum instituta consulatus tui argumenta sunt, cui morum gravitas et disciplinarum
2 vetustas curulis sellae insigne pepererunt. multi posthac adnitentur artes bonas et
laudis germanas et meras litteras, sed cui eveniet aut tam felix discipulus aut tam
memor debitor ? an ignoramus magnum illum, cui supra votum fortuna fluxit, Stagiritae
suo nihilum commodasse? fnisi quia Ennio ex Aetolicis manubiis captiva tantum chla- 30
mys muneri data Fnlvium decolorat: enim vero neque Panaetio Africanorum secundus
2 Symmachas Ausonlo] [II), om. VM 4 proquam] /^, plusqoam (i7}, pro at VM fagi II
tibi om. (r) 5 ezprobem V item] Seioppiuiy idem F/V>,-iU M{II) est at (II) 6 sa-
Btine n 8 iadicia] V, iadicii Af(i7) 9 bis etiam (U) intende {H) 10 solent V
12 Symmachas Aasonio] (Z7), om. VM 13 sai fldacia iStMe deserunt V 15 secios (II)
»am] F(r), om. M(II) de] e (J7) 16 te om. (U) taae VM 17 placibilitas r^M(n)
expereando (11)' probe] (27), prope V, proprie M 18 resedl] Oothofredus^ residi F(/7), resideo M
alterim aenientis (II)
21 Symmachas Aasonio] (77), om. VM 23 airtate V facie om. (II) in H adnotatum fuU
apieibua UHerarum legi: ianctis 24 camaenaram /^, caminaram /7, camminaram V et sacri fon-
tis 8u$e 25 fonti (F) capissendos V{r) 27 posthaec (/7) 29 an] sin (F) 30 nisi
qaia] V, nisi qaae prias Af, nisi qaod (//T), nisi Qainto Ennio Cuiacius, fortasie ne nOstro qaidem Ennio?
31 flaaiam V panetio VM secandas] socio (II)
Deqne Opillo Bntilins vel Gineae Pyrrhns ant Metrodoro sno Mithridates Ponticus libera- VHfll
linm disciplinamm pretia solvemnt. at nnnc emditissimns imperator et opnm largns
et honomm, qnasi pro nsnra tibi prima detnlerit, ita semper ad sortem fenoris redit.
in hac tanta laetitia mea, quibns verbis dilnam, qnod adesse non possnm? nimis vereor, 3
5 ne male interpretatns excnsationem meam, qnantnm tibi gratnler, pamm credas. optavi
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Our ancestors did well and wisely — as was their way in so many things — when they built the temples of Honor and Virtue side by side with matching facades. Their insight anticipated what we've seen in you: that the rewards of honor are found where the merits of virtue reside. And nearby stands the shrine of the Muses with its sacred spring, because the road to high office is often paved with letters.
These ancestral principles are the proof of your consulship. It was your gravity of character and your mastery of the liberal arts that won you the curule chair [the consul's ivory seat]. Many will strive hereafter to pursue the good arts, the true sisters of praise and genuine literature — but who among them will find either so fortunate a pupil or so grateful a patron?
Don't we know that Alexander the Great, on whom fortune smiled beyond all wishing, did nothing for his teacher Aristotle? That Fulvius, who gave Ennius nothing but a captured cloak from the Aetolian spoils, disgraced himself by such stinginess? That neither Scipio Africanus the Younger repaid Panaetius, nor Rutilius repaid Opillius, nor Pyrrhus rewarded Cineas, nor Mithridates of Pontus rewarded Metrodorus, with wages worthy of their liberal education?
But now our most learned emperor [Gratian], generous with both wealth and honors, keeps returning to repay you as though the principal on his debt were never exhausted.
In the midst of all this joy, what words can make up for the fact that I can't be there? I'm deeply afraid you'll misread my excuse and underestimate how happy I am for you.
[The letter continues with further classical allusions and apologies for absence, but the OCR becomes fragmentary.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.