Letter 4028: I had long been waiting for your letters, uncertain in my mind about what so prolonged a silence might mean.

For a long while I have been in expectation of a letter from you, uncertain in my mind what so long a silence might mean; but when you restored to me the gift I had longed for, my anxiety turned into joy. And in truth it is so ordained by nature that the complaint over a long-desired service falls away, if we obtain what we wished for. Therefore with great effort I rejoice that the pledge of our bond of devotion has been renewed for me. You will see to it that I am not disappointed in this opinion, by preserving your attentiveness toward me with unbroken affection. [To Eusignius, prefect of the city. Letter LXVI (LXVII), before the year 388:] I shall see what the justice of the times, what the goodness of our cause, what your concern -- if indeed I am dear to your heart -- can accomplish. For my part, in the case of my brother Eusebius, a man of senatorial rank, I embrace the prayer for the moderation preserved toward us, and I honor his uprightness in my mind, I commend it in my speech. And although he himself does not seek a reward for his good intention, we nevertheless desire to repay him with an honorable return out of your friendship. You will have done a thing as welcome to my wish as it is consistent with your character, if that most prudent man perceives that whatever he has granted to me, he has bestowed it for the favor of all good men. [Letter LXVII (LXVIII), years 384-387. To Eusignius:] It is both in keeping with the clemency of the times and familiar to your holy disposition to relieve those in need of help. From this a confidence has arisen in me to plead on behalf of our brother Stemmatius, from whom the ill-will of fortune long ago took away all things except the love of good men. For it cannot be doubted what he deserves at the hands of every excellent man -- he who recently was summoned by our unconquered princes [emperors], lest he should be freed through indulgence, and who changed his sad fate more by an honor than by a pardon, and was not so much rescued as longed for. Hence there is sure hope that our prince too [the emperor], venerable for his mildness, will, after the example of a just father and a dutiful brother, grant better restorations of his fortune, if only your intercession assists the plea of an exhausted senator. For he asks two things easy to do, but great for the glory of the one who grants them: to be restored to the senate-house by a sacred testimonial, and by the recovery of a modest sum of silver to be delivered from poverty. That your favor, and that of the other nobles at your urging, may advance these things, is in the interest of a good age, to which dutiful deeds win lasting praise. [Apparatus: "to whom" -- Lectunius; "your" PVF. Line 34: "may win" F. Q. Aurelius Symmachus, Book IX. Page 122, Letters of Symmachus. Letter LXVIII (LXVIIII), years 386-387.]

lamdudum in expeetatione eram litterarum tuarum ineertus animi, quid sibi vellet tam longa cessatio, sed ubi compotem desiderati nie muneris reddidisti, cura vertit in gaudium. et revera ita natura partum est, ut expetiti diu ofGcii querella decedat, si potiamur optato. ergo magno inpensu gratulor, integratum mihi esse pignus-religio- 10 nis. praestabis, ne huius opinionis frustra sim, cum diligentiam mei continuo amore servaveris. AD EVSIGNIVM. PVF LXVI (LXVII) ante a. 388. Videro, quid iustitia temporum, quid causae nostrae bonitas, quid cura tua, si 15 tamen tibi cordi sum, possit efficere. ego in fratre meo Eusebio c. v. votum servatae circa nos moderationis amplector eiusque probitatem mente colo, sermone commendo. et licet ille boni propositi praemium non requirat^ nos tamen ei honestam vicem de tua amicitia optamus exsolvere. feceris rem tam meae voluntati acceptam quam tuis moribus consentaneam , si advertat vir prudentissimus , quidquid mihi tribuit , id se 20 omnium bonorum gratiae detulisse. LXVn (LXVni) a. 384—387. AD EVSIGNIVM. Et temporum clementiae congruit et sancto ingenio tuo familiare est opis indigos sublevare. hinc mihi fiducia oborta est pro fratre nostro Stemmatio supplicandi, cui 25 dudum cuncta dempsit invidia fortunae praeter amorem bonorum. neque enim potest ambigi, quid de optimo quoque mereatur, qui nuper a principibus invictis, ne per in- dulgentiam liberaretur, accitus est magisque honore quam venia fatum triste mutavit nec tam ereptus est quam desideratus. unde spes certa est, etiam principem nostrum 2 ienitate venerabilem iusti parentis et pii fratris exemplo supplementa meliora fortunae 30 eius daturum , si modo vestra insinuatio iuvet exhausti senatoris oratum. duo enim factu facilia sed ad gloriam praestantis magna deposcit, reddi curiae testimonio sacro et recuperatione modici argenti ab inopia vindicari. haec ut favor tuus aliorum- que optimatium te hortante promoveat, interest boni saeculi, cui laudem perennem pia facta conciliant. cui] LecthUy tui PVF 34 concilient F Q. ATaitUTS Stmiiacbts. |Q 122 SYMMACHl EPISTVLAE LXVra (LXVnn) a. 386—387.