Letter 4011: I've received your letter, and with it the pleasant news that you and your family are well.
I hope, as I have learned by report, that you will come to the neighborhood. Perhaps it may turn out so, whether I have learned the truth. I, however, have entrusted to the fidelity of our brother Minervius two little speeches of mine, either to be delivered to you in person or to be sent to my homeland. I ought to be sparing in this letter; for that greedy affection of yours will be satisfied by those works which you will take up to read. I urge you nevertheless not to let your estimation of me be changed by the title of a single speech. For though the censorship was rejected, it weighs upon us at the outset merely from the inspection of the subject; but when you have read what is said, you will be reconciled to my opinion. The authority of our whole order gave precedence to this section, "which was cut away by the storm," lest under a specious name a door should be opened to those accustomed to court overreaching power. You will find more assertions of usefulness and honor in the body of the speech itself. Our care desires your judgment on both of my works.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Spero te, ut fando didici, ad vicina venturum. fors fuat, an vera conpererim. 15
ego tamen vel tradendas coram tibi a fratre nostro Minervio duas oratiunculas meas
vel mittendas in patriam fidelitati eius ingessi. parcus esse in hac epistula debeo;
2 illis enim, quae legenda suscipies, amor avarus explebitur. commoneo tamen, ne
orationis unius titulo mutetur de me existimatio tua. nam repudiata censura gravat
nos principio sola argumenti inspectione , sed ubi dicta legeris , cum sententia mea 20
in gratiam reverteris. hanc partem: ^qnae tempestate resecata est' totius ordinis
nostri antetulit auctoritas, ne sub specioso nomine fores inpotentiae ambire solitis
panderentur. plures utilitatis et honestatis adsertiones in ipso corpore orationis invenies.
de utroque opere meo iudicium tuum cura nostra desiderat.
XXX a. 396—397. 25
Revision history
- 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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