Resultados14 letters/passages
symmachus · c. 387 · score 0.02
They say that Socrates, whenever his plans were thwarted or his intentions went awry, considered whatever happened to be for the best. Confident in his own merit, he assumed that what chance delivered was better than what his mind had desired. I follow the wise man's example and put a good interpretation on the fact th …
symmachus · c. 387 · score 0.02
Quaestors of our order [quaestor-designates who were expected to sponsor elaborate public games as part of the office] have never paid the transport duty on their own wild animals. Our ancestors considered it oppressive to add an excessive expense to men already bearing the burden of senatorial rank. This exemption was …
symmachus · c. 389 · score 0.02
I've already used up my writing time with the servant heading back to Campania, but I didn't want your saintly and honorable father Severus to leave without a letter from me -- partly to fulfill my duty of greeting and partly to share my inspection of the building project at your house. I was very pleased with both the …
symmachus · c. 397 · score 0.02
We have reached the shore at Formiae. From here we will soon proceed to Puteoli [modern Pozzuoli]. It is hard to endure this heat without the comforts of the city, but the sea air has its compensations. A brief letter from a brief stop -- more will follow when we arrive.
symmachus · c. 371 · score 0.02
Take my letter as your model -- and if you refuse to follow it, I will be marked both as arrogant and lumped together with those whose great pretension in words masks an utter emptiness of thought. --- To Protadius (~400 AD): The same consul who summoned me had called you to Milan. I hoped the occasion would bring us t …
symmachus · c. 376 · score 0.02
We should be silent about fortune's blows, lest a belated consolation tear open the scar of past grief. It is better, then, to speak with you about the outstanding -- or rather, the richly promising -- character of our young Nemesius. You have a man most worthy of being esteemed for his large family. I return him to yo …
symmachus · c. 396 · score 0.01
I've grown more confident in my affection for Athanasius, a man of fine qualities, now that I've learned your opinion of him. Approval from a wise man is a powerful recommendation. So I'll skip the formal endorsement -- I couldn't add to what you already feel. This much I will say: nurture the hope you've given him and …
symmachus · c. 371 · score 0.01
You know that our silence is an equal offense on both sides, and so the blame is unfairly placed on me alone for what we share in common. I have a defense, though: the comings and goings of travelers are hard to track, and you never stay in one place -- you shuttle between Trier on official business and the Five Provin …
symmachus · c. 380 · score 0.01
You can easily imagine how I received the news of the Sicilian affair gone wrong — you who know that the injustice of judges wounds me even in other people's cases. And now I am even accused of having given imprudent advice that led to the loss of a case that was rightly decided. But what was I to do? I advised what ju …
symmachus · c. 392 · score 0.01
You've given me great comfort in my grief. As the news has already reached you: I was wounded by my brother's death and have been torn apart by unbroken anguish. Still, it brought me no small relief to learn that you are well and thriving, in accordance with our shared hopes. All that remains is for you to keep up this …
symmachus · c. 376 · score 0.01
I wish I could use you as my envoy to the excellent consul to explain and excuse my absence -- if I knew that you yourself would forgive me first. For when I think of the affection you both share for me, I worry that, just as you both love me equally, you will both blame me equally. So who should I call on to defend me …
symmachus · c. 375 · score 0.01
So I've been keeping silent for nothing, waiting confidently for you to keep your promise. Now I have to go back to the old consolations, having given up on anything better. And perhaps you're annoyed at my long silence. That's really the final straw -- to be accused of neglecting you when it's you who left me hanging. …
symmachus · c. 399 · score 0.01
Our brother Andromachus possesses all the good arts, but above all others, faithfulness. In an age when loyalties shift with the wind, a man whose word is his bond deserves to be treasured. I commend him to you not merely as a man of talent -- though he is certainly that -- but as a man of character. Whatever service y …
symmachus · c. 379 · score 0.01
You do well to console my leisure with your steady stream of letters. You've guessed, rightly, from the depth of your affection, that what comes from your most holy and brilliant pen is a gift I treasure. I return the favor more as testimony of my gratitude than in any hope of matching your effort — an effort I know I …