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The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 06 by Michel de Montaigne
page 18 of 92 (19%)
in all things, that methinks I am no more than half of myself:

"Illam meae si partem anima tulit
Maturior vis, quid moror altera?
Nec carus aeque, nec superstes
Integer? Ille dies utramque
Duxit ruinam."

["If that half of my soul were snatch away from me by an untimely
stroke, why should the other stay? That which remains will not be
equally dear, will not be whole: the same day will involve the
destruction of both."]

or:

["If a superior force has taken that part of my soul, why do I, the
remaining one, linger behind? What is left is not so dear, nor an
entire thing: this day has wrought the destruction of both."
--Horace, Ode, ii. 17, 5.]

There is no action or imagination of mine wherein I do not miss him; as I
know that he would have missed me: for as he surpassed me by infinite
degrees in virtue and all other accomplishments, so he also did in the
duties of friendship:

"Quis desiderio sit pudor, aut modus
Tam cari capitis?"

["What shame can there, or measure, in lamenting so dear a friend?"
--Horace, Ode, i. 24, I.]
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