Quintus Aurelius Symmachus → destinatário desconhecido
Tradução moderna em inglês
If the conditions of my present situation permitted, I would throw myself into your affairs even without being asked. But as matters stand, I must serve from a distance, offering what I can through letters and through the agents I have dispatched. Please do not mistake my physical absence for indifference. The spirit is willing even when the body is bound by duty elsewhere. Whatever help I can provide, consider it already given.
Texto latino / grego
Si condicio temporis mei sineret, votis me tuis etiam non rogatus ingererem. qua lo in re certus animi mei adsertionem verborum, sicuti arbitror, non requiris. nunc for- tunae meae qualitas in tantum nos a festivis excusat officiis, ut solacia insuper requi- rat aiiena. ergo quia in manu mea interim non est laetos frequentare conventus, tuae opis est levare maerentem. quorsum istud'? inquies. ut fratrem nostrum Florentinum clarissimum atque omatissimum vimm peregrinationi meae cohaerere patiaris. tantum 15 peto, nt ab eo interpreteris inpendi ex hac commoratione, quam mihi tribuit, quantum ex eius praesentia voluptatis habuisses. vale.