Resultados25 letters/passages
symmachus · c. 382 · score 0.02
… ause of justice itself — that's your chief concern — but I do dare ask that the imperial response come quickly, to give force to the rulings already made.
symmachus · c. 378 · score 0.02
With the blessing of the divine powers, my son Symmachus will assume the fasces [the ceremonial rods symbolizing... [The Latin manuscript tradition for this letter (Symmachus, Epistulae Book 8, Letter 25) is heavily corrupt or fragmentary. The above is a partial rendering based on the best available source.]
symmachus · c. 368 · score 0.02
Your first letter reached me — so short, so hurried, it seemed to be imitating your journey. But believe me, the brevity wasn't unwelcome. You managed to cover in a few concise lines everything I wanted to know about your well-being: how strong your health is, how quickly you arrived, what reception you found with our …
symmachus · c. 384 · score 0.02
When the imperial letter was delivered to me -- summoning us to attend the distinguished consul's ceremony -- I noticed another dispatch addressed to you with the same honorific invitation. The consul's own letter was also handed over by the same co …
symmachus · c. 372 · score 0.02
...I entered Milan on the day before the Kalends of March [February 28], after a long and winding detour. I've paid my respects to the emperor, whose gracious words more than compensated for the hardship of the road. I'm postponing the real business until the arrival of the distinguished count [comes], who is expected …
symmachus · c. 373 · score 0.02
I had every intention of making the journey, but the late summons left too little time to arrive. It seemed more decent to beg your pardon than to appear after the consul's ceremony was already finished. I have already sent the fullest explanations to our most merciful emperor and to all who wished me present — letters …
symmachus · c. 378 · score 0.01
… 've received the four travel warrants [evectiones — official permits to use the imperial post], and they'll be enormously useful for my people's comings and goings. May the gods repay you for such generosity. And since your blessings are already complete and at their height, may they will that everything they've given …
symmachus · c. 384 · score 0.01
… mary greeting, I'll pass along the request of Gaetulicus, an agent in rebus [an imperial courier and intelligence officer], who hopes to win your just favor through my introduction. It suits your generous nature to welcome a man of honest intentions and to expand the circle of your admirers by one more. Farewell.
symmachus · c. 373 · score 0.01
Whole cohorts of letters follow in the wake of your departure, and just as some people seek Athens for its schools or the gymnasiums of the Muses, so your travels attract an admiring crowd. And I don't imagine that a man blessed with the resources of high office finds it burdensome to host friends. So feed these schola …
symmachus · c. 376 · score 0.01
I reap annual harvests of joy from your letters -- this is the return, these are the riches that Spain pays me. And so, when winter retreats and the sea lanes open to ships, I entrust your letters to the winds -- though this year they reached me often enough but always late. Autumn was already fading when your men touc …
symmachus · c. 372 · score 0.01
Good fortune usually makes a man talkative, eager to burst the bounds of a quiet heart. But in your case, success has made you forget to write. I couldn't follow that example — the heavenly speech of our lord Gratian [Emperor Gratian, r. 367-383] filled me with hope and high spirits. So I've taken it upon myself to wri …
symmachus · c. 395 · score 0.01
The senatorial obligations are drawing our attention to pressing concerns. The praetorship of our son is approaching, and with it the enormous expenses that this magistracy demands. The games alone will cost a fortune, and the expectation of the Roman populace is a burden that no amount of preparation can fully satisfy …
symmachus · c. 376 · score 0.01
… uld have rushed to the celebration with eager heart, if the late arrival of the imperial travel permit hadn't squeezed the window too tight. Winter, too, held me back — heavy cold and short daylight hours slow a traveler down. But my heart and my joy are with you. I alone have reason to grieve that misfortune robbed me …
symmachus · c. 392 · score 0.01
I trust that by now the prefect's earlier letter has reached you. If by some accident or the carrier's negligence it went astray, here is another dispatch from that most distinguished man. He asked me to add a note of my own, so that you might share your thoughts on the matter he'd like you involved in. You can give yo …
symmachus · c. 383 · score 0.01
It's a blemish on justice that my friend Magnillus — who served as vicar [deputy governor] in Africa and earned universal praise both publicly and privately — is being held up by various obstacles in the province. You know the man's maturity and his many fine qualities, which won your affection even when he was governi …
symmachus · c. 381 · score 0.01
When I departed, you entrusted me with a responsibility befitting our friendship: not to keep silent about matters affecting your reputation and your projects. The occasion now requires me to fulfill that charge. I see that the construction of both the basilica and the bridge is moving forward, though the accounts need …
symmachus · c. 377 · score 0.01
Our ancestors did well and wisely — as was their way in so many things — when they built the temples of Honor and Virtue side by side with matching facades. Their insight anticipated what we've seen in you: that the rewards of honor are found where the merits of virtue reside. And nearby stands the shrine of the Muses …
symmachus · c. 391 · score 0.01
… se welcome Maximus -- an old friend but a brand-new courier [agens in rebus, an imperial messenger], a man going gray while still serving among the new recruits. He can fill you in on everything you need to know, which saves me from a long letter -- except, of course, for my usual request that you come visit, which I n …
symmachus · c. 393 · score 0.01
… I gave your assistant Gaudentius a letter reporting on my completed journey, an imperial agent brought me sacred letters matching our hopes and desires. The news they contained was encouraging, and I hasten to share it with you. May the gods continue to favor our endeavors. I look forward to your reply and to hearing t …
symmachus · c. 365 · score 0.01
After greeting you, let me also warmly commend my dear friend Silvanus, whom I entrust to your attentiveness. He's taken on the arduous necessity of traveling in order to restore my estates, which makes him all the more deserving of every good person's support. [Continued] We see no official edict specifying which indi …
symmachus · c. 388 · score 0.01
Shortly afterward, I had promised to support the son of my friend Trygetius as a candidate for the praetorship [junior magistracy]. Duty demanded that I seize the opportunity of that scheduled appearance to fulfill an obligation to my father that was still owed by me — though, as I said, already discharged by the Senat …
symmachus · c. 392 · score 0.01
One ought readily to support those who desire honorable things, so that praiseworthy intentions may be aided by the effort of others as well. Therefore I do not allow Felix, a most upright young man striving for higher things, to be without help. When he recoiled from the contentions of the urban forum, as one mild by …
symmachus · c. 373 · score 0.01
While you are busy relieving the hardships of the provincials, a heavier blow has fallen on the Apulians. Their grain is being requisitioned because of a groundless rumor of abundance — grain that will be stripped from the province without ever reaching the public supply in time. How can so great a shipment be prepared …
symmachus · c. 369 · score 0.01
It serves the public interest that greater responsibilities have been entrusted to you. My congratulations can therefore be brief — I wouldn't want any suspicion of flattery to diminish the truth of my judgment. I pray that the course of your new office goes well, though I have no doubt that integrity like yours is uns …
symmachus · c. 380 · score 0.01
Even if personal and friendly petition were lacking, the force of public justice could not fail to support so righteous a demand. For what is more natural to justice than that a swindler of a distinguished and praiseworthy woman — one who is also my kinswoman — should be brought to account? The details of the case will …