Page:On Friendship (Howe, 1915).pdf/49

 Old Menander called that man happy who had been able to find even the shadow of a friend: he was certainly right in saying this, especially as he had had a chance to try. For, in truth, if I compare all the rest of my life, although by the grace of God I have passed a pleasant one, easy, and save for the loss of such a friend, exempt from heavy affliction, full of tranquillity of spirit, for I have accepted my natural and individual advantages, without seeking others, if, I say, I compare it all with the four years it was given me to enjoy the sweet company and society of that person, it is only smoke, it is only dark and tedious night. Since the day I lost him,
 * Quem semper acerbum,

Semper honoratum (sic di voluistis!) habebo,


 * (Which I shall always keep,

Bitter but honoured,thus ye willed it, gods!) all I do is to drag along languidly; and the very pleasures that offer themselves to me, instead of consoling me, redouble my regret for his loss: we were halves in everything; it seems to me that I rob him of his part.