Letter 9008: After the customary greeting, let me come to a necessary request: my son's games are approaching, and we need to...
Having first sent the honor of a greeting, I append a necessary request: an edict concerning our son is at hand; for him a noble stock of curule horses [horses for the games of the curule magistracy] must be procured. For this reason we have sent most trustworthy men to the Spanish provinces with abundant funds, that they might purchase well-bred four-horse teams under the most careful selection; but because we fear that the onset of winter may bar the horses' passage, I ask you that, if necessity should so require, you order fodder to be supplied to them on your estate for three or four winter months, according to their number, so that, when the mild season begins, they may arrive without distress. Furthermore, I beg you to grant assistance to my men for the purchase of horses, if the diligence of my agents should have found any in the city of Arelate [Arles] that excel in pace and in breed. For the opportunity of a nearby purchase ought to be embraced, if chance should offer anything outstanding. The continual remembrance of your kindness will abide with me, when your brotherly care, as I hope, shall have profited our long-vowed public spectacle. [Book] XXI. In the year 399.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Salutationis honore praemisso snbtexo necessarinm postnlatum: filii nostri instat
edido; hnic eqnomm cnmlinm paranda nobilitas est. qnapropter ad Hispanias fide-
5 lissimos cnm copiosis snmptibns misimns , nt generosas qnadrigas snb diligentissima
lectione mercentnr; sed qnia veremnr, ne eqnomm transitum hiemis interventns ex-
cludat, qnaeso te, nt si necessitas postnlaverit, tribus aut qnattnor hibemis mensibus
pabnla illis in re tna pro numero iubeas ministrari, ut incipiente temperie sine vexa-
tione perveniant. praeterea adiumentum meis oro deceraas ad equoram coemptionem, 2
to si qnos in Arelatensi nrbe cnrsn et genere praestantes meoram cura reppererit. am-
plectenda est enim yicinae emptionis occasio, si eximinm aliquid casus obtnlerit.
stabit apud me iugis memoria beneficii tui , cum votivae editioni nostrae frateraa , ut
spero, cnra profuerit.
XXI a. 399.
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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