Quintus Aurelius Symmachus

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (c. 345 – 402) is a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters.

He holds the offices of governor of Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391.

Symmachus seeks to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy is converting to Christianity, and leads an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Gratian, when he orders the Altar of Victory removed from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum.

Two years later he makes a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that is rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan.

Symmachus's career is temporarily derailed when he supports the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he is rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul.

Much of his writing has survived: nine books of letters; a collection of Relationes or official dispatches; and fragments of various orations.

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