DLXXIII (F IV, 6)
TO SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS (IN ACHAIA)
(Ficulea, April)
Yes, indeed, my dear Servius, I would have wished—as you
say—that you had been by my side at the time of my
grievous loss. How much help your presence might have
given me, both by consolation and by your taking an almost
equal share in my sorrow, I can easily gather from the fact
that after reading your letter I experienced a great feeling
of relief. For not only was what you wrote calculated to
soothe a mourner, but in offering me consolation you
manifested no slight sorrow of heart yourself. Yet, after all,
your son Servius by all the kindnesses of which such a
time admitted made it evident, both how much he personally
valued me, and how gratifying to you he thought such
affection for me would be. His kind offices have of course
often been pleasanter to me, yet never more acceptable.
For myself again, it is not only your words and (I had
almost said) your partnership in my sorrow that consoles
me, it is your character also. For I think it a disgrace that
I should not bear my loss as you—a man of such wisdom—think
it should be borne. But at times I am taken by surprise
and scarcely offer any resistance to my grief, because
those consolations fail me, which were not wanting in a
similar misfortune to those others, whose examples I put
before my eyes. For instance, Quintus Maximus, who lost
a son who had been consul and was of illustrious character
and brilliant achievements, and Lucius Paullus, who lost
two within seven days, and your kinsman Gallus and
M. Cato, who each lost a son of the highest character and
valour,—all lived in circumstances which permitted their own
great position, earned by their public services, to assuage
their grief. In my case, after losing the honours which you
yourself mention, and which I had gained by the greatest possible
exertions, there was only that one solace left which has
