Quintus Aurelius Symmachus → destinatário desconhecido
Tradução moderna em inglês
I had resolved to be away from home for a long while and was enjoying a pleasant period of leisure with our friends at our suburban estate called Arabianum. But since fortune overturns human plans and our intentions do not always proceed as we wish, the Prefect's letter broke into my leisure. The letter contained good news for me personally but at the cost of my relaxation. For what good is an advantage that tears a man away from a retreat already begun? Nevertheless, duty must be obeyed, and I set out with the reluctance that any man would feel who has been pulled from the countryside back to the obligations of the city. I will write to you more fully once I have learned what exactly the Prefect requires of me.
Texto latino / grego
Diu domo abesse decreveram, iucundwiwque otium cum familiaribus nostris in sub- urbano, cui Arabianae nomen est, exigebam. sed quia fors versat humana nec sem- 20 per ex voto destinata succedunt, praefecti litterae ruperunt otium meum, quae bonae spei soUicita miscebant. SQe£idtim praesentiam meam per ambiguum poposcerunt. 2 non difiFero expectationem tuam. fcoactu in tractatu senatum commoneri sed et ob- lationem faciendam scriptis secretioribus indicavit. nihil publicatum, nihil lectum est. quantitas postulatae rei excessit opulentiam. re cognita vastum silentium cunctis stu- 25 3 por subitus imperavit. quo longius prodeunte placuit in^ tempus aliud deliberanda produci, ne omitterentur absentcs. quamvis ipse dixerim, Romae aut in proximis positos vel evocari debere vel consuli, quorum non debet ob eam cautionem futuram ut statutis ordinis polliceantur adsensum. habes omnem rem, de qua quid sentiam, satis nosti. tibi etiamsi causa communis est, procul tamen abesse ad solacium proficit. 30 LVm (LVH) ante a. 395.