Letter 4032: The results will show how much your diligence has accomplished for the public good, once unnecessary expenditures...

[...] of the public revenues' assistance, by which the lesser offices may be compelled to disclose the trust of those who furnish provisions or of those who bring in supplies. The outcome will prove how much your care has provided for the commonwealth, when, new expenses having been curtailed, the sum of the remainder shall have sufficed for the completion of the works. To Eusignius. With the greatest joy am I affected as often as you write, and then most of all when the bitterness of complaint is absent. Now your pen departs from its accustomed pleasantness. For it falsely charged a certain unfairness on the part of my kinsman, with whom you have no dispute about boundaries. And so I have held back the letter sent to him against the law of friendship, lest a just resentment should offend one who loves you. Moreover, his mother had a boundary suit in Sicily with your agent, which a hearing settled - not, as you write, that of Venustus, but of another governor. Therefore, in both persons the informant's error, once exposed, will free my kinsman from this ill will. You will observe, then, in keeping with your singular sense of propriety, to which party in particular satisfaction is owed. And I say nothing of his present fortune, which ought to have tempered the one who wrote. Add to this, that monetary cases ought not to be drawn out to the detriment of friendships. But why dwell on these matters at length? Hereafter I hope to deserve more peaceable discourse from you, and to gather up the constancy of your old regard for me, with your affection extended even to my own people. To Quintus Aurelius Symmachus the younger [a kinsman addressed by initials Q. S. P.]. Frequent experience shows, and clear proofs of your character bear witness, that examples of true friendship are to be drawn from you. For no one bestows a firmer constancy upon the duties owed to intimates, especially amid so great a mass of public cares, which could blunt another man's zeal, unless a brotherly affection overcame the clamoring demands. Since, therefore, this alone befits a sense of propriety, I yield to your most excellent scrupulousness, and modestly acknowledge myself unequal to repaying the exchange. Nor do I fear that your diligence will slacken at such praise; rather I hope that your goodwill, if anything can be added to what is already full, will be more generous; because it is characteristic of good men to heap up kindly attentions, whose gratitude they feel does not perish. To Eusignius. I do what humanity counsels, that I may join good men to your friendship. One of these is Felix, honorable in rank and in the practice of military service. If you bestow any affection upon him, it will redound to my favor. [Editorial apparatus, not part of the letter: variant readings and manuscript sigla - 'eximet' (Seeck), 'exemit' in manuscripts P, V, M; 'advertes' (Kiessling), 'aduertis' in manuscripts P, V, M; 'satisfacio' in V; 'haec de pluribus' in V; omitted in V and M; 'faelix' in F and M; 'tui' in V. Running heads: 'SYMMACHUS, LETTERS'; collection markers LXXI-LXXV with dates circa A.D. 383-397.]

pantionis auxiliis, qno minora ofGcia fidem praebitomm vel invectpmm cogantur aperire. probabit exitus, quantum reip. tua cura prospexerit, cum cohibitis sumptibus novis consummationi opemm satisfecerit summa reliquorum. 5 LXXI (LXXU) a. 397? AD EVSIGNIVM. Summo gaudiO; quotiens scribis, adficior, et tum maxime, cum abest amaritudo querimoniae. nunc stilus tuus ab usitata incunditate dissenbit. arguebat enim falso iniquitatem quandam pignoris mei, cum quo tibi limitum nulla certatio est. itaque 10 litteras contra ius amicitiae ad eum missas repressi, ne amantem tui dolor iustus offen- deret. fuit autem matri eius cum procuratore tuo finalis in Sicilia qnaestio, quam disceptatio non, ut scribis, Venusti, sed alterius rectoris absolvit. ergo in utraque persona error suggerentis retectus eam pignoris mei eximet invidiam. advertes ergo 2 pro singulari verecundia tua, cui potissimum parti satisfactio debeatur. et nihil de i& praesenti fortuna istius loquor, quae scribentem debuit temperare. adde, quod pecu- niarias cansas nsque ad detrimentum amicitiamm non oportet extendi. sed quid haec plnribus? posthac opto sermonem tuum placidiorem mereri et constantiam veteris erga me observantiae tnae porrecto etiam in meos amore colligere. LXXn (LXXni) ante a. 388. ao AD Q. S. PVF Frequens usus ostendit et clara animi tui documenta testantur, exempla verae amicitiae de te esse capienda. neque enim quisquam constantiam firmiorem familiari- bus inpendit ofliciis, in tanta praesertim publicarum mole curamm, quae alterius stu- dium possit hebetare, nisi obstrepentes necessitates adfectio fratema superaret. quod ib solnm igitur verecundiae convenit, cedo praestantissimae religioni meque inparem referendae vicissitudini pudenter agnosco. nec vereor, ne diligentia tua tali laude lentescat; quin potius spero benivolentiam tuam, si quid pleno potest adici, largio- rem; quia bonis familiare est studia benigna cumulare, quomm gratiam sentinnt non perire. 80 . LXXni (LXXmi) a. 384—387. AD EVSIGNIVM. PVM Facio, quod suadet humanitaS; ut amicitiae tuae viros bonae ftmgis adinngam. horam unus est Felix honorabilis gradu atque exercitatione militiae. cni si quid amo- ris inpenderis, ad meam gratiam pertinebit. hoo V, om. Af 13 eximet] Sutt^ exemit PVM advertes] KiesBUng, aduertis PVM 14 satis- facio V 16 baec de pluriboa V 31 om. VM 33 faelix FAf tui V 16* 124 SYMMACHl EPISTVLAE LXXim (LXXV) a. 383.