EPISTLE LXVII.
honour, I have prayed also for those things without which, on some occasions, life cannot be honourable
8. O thrice and four times blest were they
Who underneath the lofty walls of Troy
Met happy death before their parents’ eyes![1]
What does it matter whether you offer this prayer for some individual, or admit that it was desirable in the past? 9. Decius sacrificed himself for the State; he set spurs to his horse and rushed into the midst of the foe, seeking death. The second Decius, rivalling his father’s valour, reproducing the words which had become sacred[2] and already household words, dashed into the thickest of the fight, anxious only that his sacrifice might bring omen of success,[3] and regarding a noble death as a thing to be desired. Do you doubt, then, whether it is best to die glorious and performing some deed of valour? 10. When one endures torture bravely, one is using all the virtues. Endurance may perhaps be the only virtue that is on view and most manifest; but bravery is there too, and endurance and resignation and long-suffering are its branches. There, too, is foresight; for without foresight no plan can be undertaken; it is foresight that advises one to bear as bravely as possible the things one cannot avoid. There also is steadfastness, which cannot be dislodged from its position, which the wrench of no force can cause to abandon its purpose. There is the whole inseparable company of virtues; every honourable act is the work of one single virtue, but it is in accordance with the judgment of the whole council. And that which is approved by all the virtues, even though it seems to be the work of one alone, is desirable.
11. What? Do you think that those things only are
- ↑ Vergil, Aeneid, i. 94 ff.
- ↑ Cf. Livy, vii. 9. 6 ff. . . . legiones auxiliaque hostium mecum deis manibus Tellurique devoveo.
- ↑ Ut litaret: i.e., that by his sacrifice he might secure an omen of success. Cf. Pliny, N. H. viii. 45, and Suetonius, Augustus, 96: “At the siege of Perusia, when he found the sacrifices were not favourable (sacrificio non litanti), Augustus called for more victims.”
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