Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknown|c. 382 AD|symmachus
I have no time for the common run of philosophers who fake wisdom with pretentious clothing and a haughty air. Our age has produced only a few whose genuine philosophy would stand comparison with the ancients — and among those few, my friend Barachus stands out.
"Who are you," you'll say, "to judge philosophers?" Well, anyone can appreciate excellence in others. The masses admired Phidias's Olympian Zeus, Myron's bronze cow, and Polyclitus's basket-bearers without being sculptors themselves. Nature has made the capacity for judgment more widely available than the capacity for creation. Otherwise, the finest achievements would be appreciated by only a handful, if good taste didn't extend even to those who can't match it.
So grant me the right to vouch for Barachus, and embrace the friendship of a truly wise man. A short acquaintance will convince you to trust me on everything I know — once you see I'm not wrong even about things outside my expertise. Farewell.
Nihil moror ceteros vulgus ignobile, qui philosophiam fastu et habitu mentiuntur.
paucos et in his praecipue familiarem meum Barachum nostra aetas tulit, quorum
germana sapientia ad ye/ustatem vergeret. tune, inquies, audeas de philosophis iudi- 5
care? licet alienas spectare virtutes. nam et Phidiae Olympium lovem et Myronis
buculam et Polt/cliti canephoras rudis eius artis hominum pars magna mirata est.
intellegendi natura indulgentius patet. alioqui praeclara rerum paucis probarentur, si
boni cuiusque sensus etiam ad inpares non veniret. concede igitur mihi de Baracho
testis officium et amicitiam viri prudentis amplectere, cuius exploratio brevi faciet, ut 10
mihi de omnibus, quae scio, facile credas, cum videas, me nec in his falsum esse,
quae nescio. vale.
XXX (xxnn) a. 370—379.
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I have no time for the common run of philosophers who fake wisdom with pretentious clothing and a haughty air. Our age has produced only a few whose genuine philosophy would stand comparison with the ancients — and among those few, my friend Barachus stands out.
"Who are you," you'll say, "to judge philosophers?" Well, anyone can appreciate excellence in others. The masses admired Phidias's Olympian Zeus, Myron's bronze cow, and Polyclitus's basket-bearers without being sculptors themselves. Nature has made the capacity for judgment more widely available than the capacity for creation. Otherwise, the finest achievements would be appreciated by only a handful, if good taste didn't extend even to those who can't match it.
So grant me the right to vouch for Barachus, and embrace the friendship of a truly wise man. A short acquaintance will convince you to trust me on everything I know — once you see I'm not wrong even about things outside my expertise. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.