Letter 9018: I have no doubt that you care about men of quality -- for your own character must take pleasure in the company of...

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusPompeia|c. 374 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|From Rome|AI-assisted
friendshipimperial politics

I do not doubt that you have a care for good men; for it is necessary that your character take joy in the fellowship of men like yourself. If, therefore, you grant me anything, embrace, I beg you, the friendship of my lord and son Flavianus, whom I commend not only with a parent's loyalty but also with a witness's. You will find in him a mind worthy of your love and of a better fortune, even though the greatness of a sacred favor has met his misfortunes and, to crown that clemency, a recall has been added. Whence it is just that the man whom imperial favor regards your friendship should not abandon. Farewell.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

XXXXVn (XXXXmi) a. 398.

nF Bonorum virorum curam tibi esse non ambigo; mores enim tuos necesse est si-
railium [virorura] coniunctione gaudere. si quid igitur mihi tribuis, amplectere, quaeso s

te, amicitias domini et filii mei Flaviani, quem non solum parentis verum etiam

testis fidelitate commendo. reperies in eo mentem dignam amore tuo et meliore fortuna,
licet sacri beneficii magnitudo casibus eius occurrerit et ad cumulum lenitatis adiecta
sit evocatio. unde aequum est , ut quem respicit imperiale suffragium , familiaritas
vestra non deserat. vale. 10

xxxxvin (xxxxv).

Revision history

  1. 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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