Letter 7019: ...is there really anything in my words that can soothe your ears or serve as medicine for your mind?

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 375 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|AI-assisted
illness

[...] it is; the bay of Lucrinus has steeped you in excessive wit. Is there anything in my words that may keep your ears safe, that may work a medicine upon your senses? I believe so; I agree. For very often things bitter to swallow have power toward health, and bodies afflicted with sour juices are restored. But you are far too grasping, you who, with my dear Flavianus present, look for anything further, in whom there are such great delights of good things that you seem to me to have lingered as if among the Sirens or the Lotus-eaters. And would that I were joined to your leisure! I should take more of healthfulness from you all than you desire, you who have demanded letters alone from me. Farewell.

XVII.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

10 est; nimiis te salibus sinus Lucrinus infecit. estne aliquid in verbis meis, quod au-
res tuas sospitet, quod medicinam sensibus faciat? credo, consentio. nam plerumque
amara haustu ad salutem valent et sucis tristibus adfecta refoventur. sed nimium 3
quantum avarus es, qui Flaviano meo praesente quicquam requiris, in quo tanta re-
rnm bonarum delenimenta sunt, ut mihi quasi apud Sirenas aut Lotophagos haesisse

15 videaris. atque utinam vestro otio iungerer; plus de vobis caperem salubritatis, quam
tu desideras, qui a me solas litteras poposcisti. vale.

xvn.

Revision history

  1. 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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