everything which Catiline would have done if victorious; Rutilius
found his virtue rewarded with a hiding-place in Asia; to Cato the
Roman people refused the praetorship, and persisted in refusing the
consulship. We are ungrateful in public matters; and if every man
asks himself, you will find that there is no one who has not some
private ingratitude to complain of. Yet it is impossible that all
men should complain, unless all were deserving of complaint,
therefore all men are ungrateful. Are they ungrateful alone? nay,
they are also all covetous, all spiteful, and all cowardly,
especially those who appear daring; and, besides this, all men fawn
upon the great, and all are impious. Yet you need not be angry with
them; pardon them, for they are all mad. I do not wish to recall
you to what is not proved, or to say, "See how ungrateful is youth!
what young man, even if of innocent life, does not long for his
father's death? even if moderate in his desires, does not look
forward to it? even if dutiful, does not think about it? How few
there are who fear the death even of the best of wives, who do not
even calculate the probabilities of it. Pray, what litigant, after
having been successfully defended, retains any remembrance of so
great a benefit for more than a few days?" All agree that no one
dies without complaining. Who on his last day dares to say,

"I've lived, I've done the task which Fortune set me."

Who does not leave the world with reluctance, and with
lamentations? Yet it is the part of an ungrateful man not to be
satisfied with the past. Your days will always be few if you count
them. Reflect that length of time is not the greatest of blessings;
make the best of your time, however short it may be; even if the
day of your death be postponed, your happiness will not be