VITA
de vita eiushis lifeQ. Aurelius Symmachus circa annum CCCXLV p.C.n. natus est, ex una e maximis senatus Romani familiis, et optimis eius aetatis litteris eruditus. Legatus senatus Treveris orationes in laudem Valentiniani et Gratiani filii habuit (annis CCCLXIX–CCCLXX). Africam proconsul rexit (anno CCCLXXIII) et orator et epistularum scriptor inclaruit. Ut pater, sacerdotium religionis Romanae antiquae gessit.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was born about A.D. 345 into one of the great senatorial families of Rome and given the finest literary education of his age. As the senate's envoy he delivered speeches in praise of Valentinian I and his son Gratian at the court in Trier (369–370). He governed Africa as proconsul (373) and became famous as an orator and letter-writer. Like his father, he held a priesthood of the ancestral Roman religion.
Praefectus urbi anno CCCLXXXIV Valentiniano II relationem tertiam misit, qua senatus nomine petebat ut ara Victoriae, a Gratiano e curia remota, restitueretur. Ambrosius, Mediolanensis episcopus, contra scripsit, et petitio repulsa est. Anno CCCLXXXVIII Magnum Maximum, qui imperium invaserat, laudavit, deinde a Theodosio veniam petere coactus est.
As prefect of the city in 384 he sent the emperor Valentinian II his third Relatio, asking on the senate's behalf that the Altar of Victory, removed from the Senate House by Gratian, be restored. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, wrote against it and the request was refused. In 388 he praised the usurper Magnus Maximus, and afterwards had to ask Theodosius for pardon.
Consul anno CCCXCI fuit. Epistulae eius vitam magni senatoris ostendunt: gratiam pro amicis petitam, praedia administrata, ludos paratos, amicitias etiam cum Christianis cultas. Anno CDI ludos magnificos ob praeturam filii edidit; epistularum libri et relationes eius supersunt, cum orationum fragmentis. Circa annum CDII mortuus est, ultimus magnus caerimoniarum avitarum in senatu defensor.
He was consul in 391. His letters show the life of a great senator: favours asked for friends, estates managed, games prepared, and friendships kept up with Christians too. In 401 he gave lavish games for his son's praetorship; his books of letters and his official reports survive, with fragments of his speeches. He died about 402, the last great defender in the senate of the ancestral rites.
TEMPORA
res gestaetimeline- c. 345 p.C.n.c. A.D. 345Nascitur.Born.
- 373 p.C.n.A.D. 373Proconsul Africae.Proconsul of Africa.
- 384 p.C.n.A.D. 384Praefectus urbi; relatio tertia de ara Victoriae.Prefect of the city; the third Relatio on the Altar of Victory.
- 388 p.C.n.A.D. 388Maximum laudat; a Theodosio veniam petit.Praises Maximus; seeks pardon from Theodosius.
- 391 p.C.n.A.D. 391Consul.Consul.
- 401 p.C.n.A.D. 401Ludos ob praeturam filii edit.Gives games for his son's praetorship.
- c. 402 p.C.n.c. A.D. 402Moritur.Dies.
SENTENTIAE
verba ipsiusin his own wordsUno itinere non potest perveniri ad tam grande secretum.
Not by one road alone can one reach so great a mystery.
Symm. Rel. III.10
Suus enim cuique mos, suus ritus est.
Each people has its own custom, its own rite.
Symm. Rel. III.8
Eadem spectamus astra, commune caelum est, idem nos mundus involvit.
We look on the same stars, the sky is common to all, the same world surrounds us.
Symm. Rel. III.10
SCRIPTA IN ACTISHIS PIECES IN THE ACTA
—Nondum in Actis scripsit — mox scribet.He has not written for the Acta yet — his turn is coming.