Letter 10017: The question of the appointment is one I have raised before and raise again now with more information than I had...
Both my devotion to the glory of your age and my concern for the commonwealth require that I not pass over in silence things that need correcting, Lords Emperors. Since the sum of civil affairs belongs to the Urban Prefecture, certain particular departments are entrusted to subordinate offices; and to administer these there ought to have been appointed energetic and proven men, so that each might advance his own duty with blameless competence. Such men the public service now awaits from the judgment of your divine power. Yet I do not wish to find fault with those presently in place, since it is enough for my anxiety if you would entrust the offices within the walls to better men. For upon my shoulders the burdens of all matters are borne, while the rest fall away [withdraw or fail], men whom your Clemency's manifold preoccupation has not been able to vet. The good fortune of these times has worthier men; the wellspring of good men is fertile. You will provide better for your City in time to come if you appoint even those who are reluctant.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Fidem meam convenit amor saecnli vestri et cura rei publicae, ne corrigenda
dissimulem, ddd. imppp. cum ad praefecturam urbanam civilium rerum summa pertineat, minoribus officiis certa quaedam membra creduntur; quibus regendis industrios et probatos oportebat adhiberi, ut suum quisque munus inculpata facilitate promoveat. tales nunc de iudicio numinis vestri publicus usus expectat. sed nolo culpare praesentes, cum satis sit sollicitudini meae, si melioribus viris officia intramurana mandetis. meis quippe umeris rerum omnium pondera sustinentur cedentibus
reliquis, quos clementiae vestrae multiplex occupatio probare non potuit. habet temporum felicitas digniores; bonorum virorum vena fecunda est. melius urbi vestrae
in posterum consuletis, si legatis invitos.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern symmachus workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog
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