Letter 8004: I pray the gods that the health I'm enjoying extends to you and your family as well.

I pray to the gods that the health which is meanwhile mine may likewise be available to you and yours. I seem to have fully embraced in this preamble the things that must be written: concerning your good health a prayer, concerning my own a rejoicing. But you do not allow letters to be brief. What, then, shall be the subject [hypothesis] of a longer page? Where I am, what I have been doing -- for friendship is especially curious about such matters --, if it please you, I shall set forth. The beginning of my pleasures arises from the bay of Formiae, a city which is reported once to have been inhabited by the people of the Laestrygonians. These we read to have been so devoted to belly and gullet that it brought them into the odium of savagery. I spent a fair number of days on that shore, but sparing of its delights, lingering only because the healthfulness of the air and the coolness of the waters urged the delay. My dear pledges [children] were present, in my longing for whom I had set out from our city. Nor was it worth the effort to undertake a further journey at once, since those I had desired were at hand. Thereafter, at their discretion, I skirted the coast which lies between Formiae and the Cumaean shore. Now, by mutual invitations, we move either to Bauli or to the Gauran estate of Nicomachus. There is abundance to me of friends streaming in one after another. I do not fear that you may think I am running riot amid so great a charm of places and so great a plenty of things. For here we lead a consular [dignified] manner of life, and at Lucrinus we are serious. There is no singing aboard the boats, no gorging at the banquets, nor frequenting of the baths, nor any wanton bathings of the young men. You may know that there is no fault of luxury in the places themselves.

Deos oro, ut quae mihi interim valetudo est, eadem tibi ac tuis suppetat vi- deor plene hoc anteloquio scribenda conplexus, de tua sanitate votum, de mea gau- dium. sed epistulas breves esse non pateris. quae igitur uTrdOsoK; erit paginae lon- gioris? ubi sim , quid egerim — nam praecipue amicitia rerum talium curiosa est — , 20 Bi placet, prosequar. principium voluptatum de Formiano sinu nascitur, quae civitas 2 quondam Laestrygonum populo fertur habitata. hos ventri et gulae usque ad feri- tatis invidiam legimus obsecutos. plusculos in eo litore dies sed deliciarum parcus exegi tantum caeli salubritate et aquarum frigore suadentibus moram. adfuerunt pig- nora mea, quorum cupiens nostra urbe processeram. nec fuit operae mox ulterius 25 iter adgredi, cum praesto essent desiderati. illorum dehinc arbitratu legi oram, quae 3 Formias et Cumanum litus interiacet. nunc mutuis invitationibus aut in Baulos aut in Nicomachi Gaurana migramus. amicorum subinde mihi adfluentium largiter est. non vereor, ne me lascivire in tanta locorum amoenitate et rerum copia putes. ubi- c^ropia P*2m.y cycropia F^ latialis Fl, latina F^ nec P '^ m, aequa] umquam F^ amicorum diligens F bibliotaecae P 6 pro boc dignum] P, de hoc dignum F^, de hac dignum F^, dignum pro boc F^ 7 cum caUe tenuis inser, F^ /faoundlae P, facundia F ingenio F emm F^, noui homerum F^ 10 carerent F^ flama bonorum uirorum F2 oelebritates si uon minoribus contestatum esset F3 11 quid om, F^ hoc F^ breuitate P l m, 12 oaro F2«3 ut] autem F^ adiceris F3 integrato FS 13 uale add, F i*2 15 fiofi mperwini <n P hvuus epUUdae niii haee : 17 da . . • de m . . . IS uis ee i . . . erit pag . . . 19 egerim n . . . talium curio ... 20 principium u . . . sinu nasoitur qu ... 21 l^strygonum popul . . . hos uentri et gulae ... 22 inuidiam iegimns obs . . . in eo — sed del . . . 23 exegi — salu . . . rii fri- gore suadentlb; . . . pignora mea quorn cu . . . 24 processeram nec fuit o ... 25 iter adgredi cU pr^st . . . ti iUorum — arbitr . . . quae — litus int . . . p. 222, 1 . . . agimus . . . umus 2 . . . la in con . . . en- tatio . . . end procaces 3 . . . ee iiilux6ria {cotr. 2 m.) 15 Ad Martianum praecedenti epishUae propo- nit {II) iUiut inaeriptione (Audronico) in hane trantlata^ Symmachus Marciano {P) 17 de mea gaudiom] /^, de me ac studium (77) 18 breues] (77), ///uis P 22 sed] P[r), om, (77) 23 tantum] P, tanUm (7/) 27 nichomachi (77) 222 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE n qne vltam agimus consularem et in Lucrino serii sumus. nullus in navibus canor, nuUa in conviviis helluatio, nec frequentatio balnearum nec uUi iuvenum procaces natatus. scias nullum esse in luxuria crimen locorum. XXnn a. 396.