Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Ausonius Corrector|c. 386 AD|symmachus
I know this letter will reach you late — either because of the duties that will keep you busy for a while, or because my friend Gorgonius, an admirer of your virtues, plans to linger at leisure among the Picentes [in central Italy]. But whatever the situation, I decided I shouldn't neglect my duty. Perhaps this letter will reach you sooner than expected. In any case, I'll keep up this correspondence as often as travelers allow. Farewell.
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SYMMACHUS TO AUSONIUS:
I warmly recommend my friend the honorable Victor — not a stranger who needs introduction, but a man already proven by his faithful military service. No fault of his own has ever tarnished his record. But Fortune, in her usual way of humbling even the best, has frustrated his hopes for a time. If you look favorably on his blameless record, the blessings of our age will restore what was lost. Farewell.
Scio quidem litteras meas tibi sero reddendas vel propter occapationes , quae te
in procinctu aliquantisper tenebunt, vel quod frater meus Gorgonius admirator virtu-
& tnm tuarum diutinae apud Picentes indulgebit quieti. utut est tamen ista condicio,
snpersedendum officio non putavi. fors fuat, an haec mature in manus tuas scripta
sint ventura. ego tamen quantum per commeantes licebit, istius muneri» operam non
reparcam. vale.
XXXX (XXXIin) a. 370—379.
«0 SYMMACHVS AVSONIO.
Non novum aut incoguitum sed conpertum iam fide et sedulitate militiae sanctum
Victorem amicum meum promptus commendator insinuo, quem ad hoc aevi nulla actuum
culpa fuscavit; sed fortunae licentia, quae interdum optimos decolorat, spes eius pau-
lisper infregerat. quae in integrum saeculi beatitudo restituet, si innocentiam suppli-
'* cis secundo favpre respexeris. vale.
XXXXI (XXXV) post a. 369.
◆
I know this letter will reach you late — either because of the duties that will keep you busy for a while, or because my friend Gorgonius, an admirer of your virtues, plans to linger at leisure among the Picentes [in central Italy]. But whatever the situation, I decided I shouldn't neglect my duty. Perhaps this letter will reach you sooner than expected. In any case, I'll keep up this correspondence as often as travelers allow. Farewell.
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SYMMACHUS TO AUSONIUS:
I warmly recommend my friend the honorable Victor — not a stranger who needs introduction, but a man already proven by his faithful military service. No fault of his own has ever tarnished his record. But Fortune, in her usual way of humbling even the best, has frustrated his hopes for a time. If you look favorably on his blameless record, the blessings of our age will restore what was lost. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.