Letter 3035: It's a blemish on justice that my friend Magnillus — who served as vicar [deputy governor] in Africa and earned...

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusAmbrose of Milan|c. 383 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|From Rome|To Milan|AI-assisted
friendshiptravel mobility

It is like a blemish that my brother Magnillus, after discharging the office of vicar [deputy of the praetorian prefect] throughout Africa and being conspicuous, both publicly and privately, by the testimony of all, should be held back by various obstacles in that province. You know the good man's seasoned judgment and his other fine accomplishments, by which he drew to himself even your affection when he governed Liguria, and therefore to praise what is already well known would be, with you, superfluous labor. Wherefore I earnestly ask that, when you have learned from the bearer of this letter the reasons for his delays, you may deign to lend your devoted intervention on behalf of his return, so that, restored at last to his homeland, he may exchange the wrong of his long sojourn abroad for the repose he longs for.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Naevi instar est, nt frater mens Magnillus vicaria potestate per Africam fnnctus
testimonio omninm pnblice privatimque conspicuus variis in ea provincia retardetur
obstaculis. nosti -optimi viri maturitatem ceterasque artes bonas, quibns etiam tunm
amorem, cnm Lignriam gubemaret, adtraxit, et ideo apud te redundantis est operae
20 landare compertum. quare inpendio peto, ut cum a baiulo litteramm cansas morarum
eins acceperis, religiosum pro eius reditu interventum digneris adhibere, quo tandem
patriae restitntns longae peregrinationis iniuriam desiderata quiete commutet.

XXXV ante a. 398.

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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