surrounded, together with that profound silence which is observed
on these occasions, that forcibly disposes the mind to meditation.
So for the future, let me advise you, whenever you hunt, to take
your tablets along with you, as well as your basket and bottle, for
be assured you will find Minerva no less fond of traversing the
hills than Diana. Farewell.

V

To POMPEIUS SATURNINUS

NOTHING could be more seasonable than the letter which I
received from you, in which you so earnestly beg me to send you
some of my literary efforts: the very thing I was intending to do. So
you have only put spurs into a willing horse and at once saved
yourself the excuse of refusing the trouble, and me the
awkwardness of asking the favour. Without hesitation then I avail
myself of your offer; as you must now take the consequence of it
without reluctance. But you are not to expect anything new from a
lazy fellow, for I am going to ask you to revise again the speech I
made to my fellow-townsmen when I dedicated the public library
to their use. You have already, I remember, obliged me with some
annotations upon this piece, but only in a general way; and so I
now beg of you not only to take a general view of the whole
speech, but, as you usually do, to go over it in detail. When you
have corrected it, I shall still be at liberty to publish or suppress it:
and the delay in the meantime will be attended with one of these
alternatives; for, while we are deliberating whether it is fit for
publishing, a frequent revision will either make it so, or convince
me that it is not. Though indeed my principal difficulty respecting