forbear to lament him, as if he had been in the prime and vigour of
his days; and I lament him (shall I own my weakness?) on my
account. And--to confess to you as I did to Calvisius, in the first
transport of my grief--I sadly fear, now that I am no longer under
his eye, I shall not keep so strict a guard over my conduct. Speak
comfort to me then, not that he was old, he was infirm; all this I
know: but by supplying me with some reflections that are new and
resistless, which I have never heard, never read, anywhere else. For
all that I have heard, and all that I have read, occur to me of
themselves; but all these are by far too weak to support me under
so severe an affliction. Farewell.

IX

To SOCIUS SENECIO

THIs year has produced a plentiful crop of poets: during the whole
month of April scarcely a day has passed on which we have not
been entertained with the recital of some poem. It is a pleasure to
me to find that a taste for polite literature still exists, and that men
of genius do come forward and make themseves known,
notwithstanding the lazy attendance they got for their pains. The
greater part of the audience sit in the lounging-places, gossip away
their time there, and are perpetually sending to enquire whether the
author has made his entrance yet, whether he has got through the
preface, or whether he has almost finished the piece. Then at
length they saunter in with an air of the greatest indifference, nor
do they condescend to stay through the recital, but go out before it
is over, some slyly and stealthily, others again with perfect
freedom and unconcern. And yet our fathers can remember how