Letter 2024: I practically seized Simplicius, the imperial agent, at the very gate of the Via Flaminia, just to dictate these few...

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusVirius Nicomachus Flavianus|c. 377 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
imperial politicstravel mobility

I detained Simplicius, an agent in the imperial service [agens in rebus], almost at the Flaminian Gate, so that I might dictate to you a few words that ought not to be left unsaid. Our son Flavianus arrived at Rome on the day before the Kalends of March [28 February], and he will shortly set out upon his journey into Asia under favorable auspices, a thing which it was therefore fitting to make known to you, so that the promised hope may wipe away the anxiety which you have endured up to now on account of his delay. Farewell.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Simplicium agentem in rebnB paene in porta Flaminiae retentavi, ut ad te panca
et non omittenda dictarem. filius noster Flavianns Romam pridie Ealendas Martias
venit, et brevi iter in Asiam secundis auspiciis ordietur, quod ideo par fuit indicari, s
ut soUicitudinem, quam de mora eius hucusque tolerasti, spes promissa detergeat. vale.

XXV ante a. 395.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern symmachus retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/qaureliisymmach00seecgoog

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