To the General Zeno, on the Death of His Brother

To be struck by human troubles is the common lot of everyone; to bear them bravely and rise above their attack is no longer common. The first belongs to human nature; the second depends on resolve. That is why we marvel at how the philosophers chose the noblest way of life and conquered their calamities by wisdom. And philosophy is produced by the power of our reason, which rules our passions and is not pulled this way and that by them. [a]

Now one of the human troubles is grief, and it is this that we urge your excellency to overcome. It will not be hard for you to rise victorious over this feeling if you consider human nature and take to heart how useless sorrow is. For what good will it do the departed that we wail and lament? When, however, we think of the birth you shared, the long years together, the splendid service in the field, and the far-famed achievements, let us remember that the one adorned by them was a man subject to the law of death; and further, that all things are ordained by God, who guides human affairs according to his holy knowledge of what will be for their good.

So I have written as far as the limits of a letter allow, begging your eminence, for the sake of us all, to preserve your health, which is usually kept up by cheerfulness and ruined by despondency. It is out of care for the good of us all that I have written this letter.