Letter 10035: The years accumulate their losses as well as their satisfactions, and the late summer has brought one of each; I...
Your felicity, indeed, most divine emperors [the phrase divine triple-Augusti formula addresses the three reigning emperors], promises the Roman people supplies that never fail; yet the foresight of judges must not cease to be prompted, so that diligence may secure what a more favorable fortune promises. The daily use of grain is readily at hand; only the commodity of oil, brought in too sparingly, troubles the sustenance of the common people. Concerning this matter the most distinguished prefect of the grain supply [praefectus annonae], a diligent executor of his own duties, long ago gave notice to the most ample praetorian prefecture, as he himself asserts, by sending, after the usual fashion, the short reports that would disclose the scarcity of the stored provisions. But, as the shortfall grows worse, regard for the fatherland ought not to have been kept silent before Your Clemency, for its hopes and its resources are heaped up by the favor of good princes. Wherefore we all entreat you as suppliants—if you await our prayers, you who anticipate the wishes of all by your benefactions—that as soon as possible your divine word may spur on the African judges concerning this commodity to be brought into the Roman granaries. For there is need of haste, before the daily distribution exhausts what remains. Add, therefore, this gift to the others which you are accustomed to bestow, so that all the blessings of the age may flow in with equal bounty.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Felicitas qnidem yestra indefessas populo Romano copias pollicetur, ddd. imppp.,
sed cantio iudicnm snggerenda non deserit, nt diligentia mnniat, quod melior fortuna
promittit. fmmenti cotidianus usus in facili est; olei tantum species victum plebis
tenuiter invecta sollicitat. cuius rei v. c. praefectus annonae, partium suarum diligens
executor, praetorianae amplissimae praefecturae, ut ipse adserit, dudum fecit indicium
missis de more brevibus, qui angustias patefacerent conditorum. sed ingravescente
defectu sileri apud clementiam vestram patriae cura non debuit, cuius spes atque
opes bonorum principum favore cumnlantur. quare omnes suppliciter oramus, si expectatis preces, qui vota omnium beneficiis praevenitis, ut quam primum iudices Africanos super hac specie Romanis horreis inferenda divinus sermo destimulet. nam
properato opus est, priusquam reliquum profliget diuma praebitio. addite igitur hoc
mnnns ceteris, quae praestare consnestis, ut cuncta saeculi bona pari adfluant largitate.
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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