Letter 6026: My dear Zenodorus doesn't yet know you in person, but your reputation has already won his admiration.
My son Zenodorus does not yet know you through closer acquaintance, but, with report bringing you together, he already looks up to you. For although he is hurrying to Lucania and Bruttium [regions of southern Italy] under the compulsion of his office, he nonetheless longs to make a detour from his route and hasten into your sight. Him I introduce into your friendship as a mystagogue [an initiating guide], and I take it upon myself that he is worthy of your affection. If, therefore, you grant anything to a father's testimony, let his first approach as he arrives find a regard already grown mature in you, and let him forthwith experience that graciousness of your heart which it knows has never been denied to a newcomer.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Zenodorus filius meus nondum te consuetudine propiore cognovit sed fama con-
ciliante iam suspicit. nam cum propere Lucanos ac Brittios petat honore cogente,
nihilominus in conspectum tuum flexo itinere gestit excurrere. hunc in amicitiam i&
tuam tamquam mystagogus induco atque in me recipio dignum esse, quem diligas.
si quid igitur parentis testimonio tribuis, adultam mox apud te religionem primus ad-
itus adventantis inveniat eamque continuo experiatur facilitatem pectoris tui, quam
scit numquam delatam esse novitati.
XXVI (XXVH) a. 396. 20
Revision history
- 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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