Laelius Or An Essay on Friendship Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Athens, whom the Oracle of Apollo declared to be the wifeft of the fons of men:(') And believe me, Lielius, it is the fame fpecies of wifdom which this excel... more »lent moralift difplayed, that all the world is agreed in afcribing to you : that wifdom, I mean, by which you hold virtue to be capable of fortifying the foul againft all the various affaults of human calamities, and are taught to confiderhappinefs as depending upon yourfelf alone. In confequence of this general o- pinion I have been frequently afked, (and the fame queftion, I believe, has no lefs often, Scvola, been pro- pofed to you) in what manner L.jelius fupports the lofs he has lately fuftained? And this inquiry was the rather made, as it was remarked that you abfented yourfelf from our laft monthly meeting in the Gardens of Brutus, the Augur, where (') See Rem. on Cato, P. 231. Rem. 79, chapter{Section 4where you had always before very regularly affifted. S C and V O L A. I acknowledge, Llius, that the queftion which Fannius mentions, has repeatedly been put to me by many of my acquaintance: and I have always affured them that, as far as I could ob- ferve, you received the wound that has been inflicted upon you by the death of your affeandionate and illuftrious friend, with great compofure and equanimity ; neverthelefs, that it was not poffible, nor indeed confiftent with the general humane difpofition of your nature, not to be affected by it in a very fenfible manner: however, that it was by no means grief, but merely indif- pofition, which prevented you from being prefent at the laft meeting of our aflembly. LyELIUS. chapter{Section 5L E L I U S. Youranfwer, Scvola, wasperfecl:- ly agreeable to the fact. Ill, certainly, would it become me, on account of any private affliction, to decline...« less