Ep. 3.7.1Modo nūntiātus est Silius Italicus in Neāpolītānō suō inediā fīnīsse vītam.News has just come that Silius Italicus has ended his life by starvation at his villa near Naples. Ep. 3.7.2Causa mortis valētūdō.The cause of his death was ill health. Ep. 3.7.2Erat illī nātus īnsānābilis clāvus, cuius taediō ad mortem irrevocābilī cōnstantiā dēcucurrit ūsque ad suprēmum diem beātus et fēlīx, nisi quod minōrem ex līberīs duōbus āmīsit, sed maiōrem meliōremque flōrentem atque etiam cōnsulārem relīquit.An incurable tumour had grown on him, and weary of it he hastened to death with unshakeable resolve, blessed and fortunate up to his last day, except that he lost the younger of his two sons; but he left the elder and better one flourishing, and even of consular rank. Ep. 3.7.3Laeserat fāmam suam sub Nerōne - crēdēbātur sponte accūsāsse -, sed in Vitellī amīcitiā sapienter sē et cōmiter gesserat, ex prōcōnsulātū Asiae glōriam reportāverat, maculam veteris industriae laudābilī ōtiō abluerat.He had damaged his reputation under Nero — he was believed to have acted as an informer of his own accord — but in his friendship with Vitellius he had conducted himself wisely and courteously, had brought back glory from his proconsulship of Asia, and had washed away the stain of his former activity by an honourable retirement.
Ep. 3.7.4Fuit inter prīncipēs cīvitātis sine potentiā, sine invidiā: salūtābātur colēbātur, multumque in lectulō iacēns cubiculō semper, nōn ex fortūnā frequentī, doctissimīs sermōnibus diēs trānsigēbat, cum ā scrībendō vacāret.He was among the leading men of the state, without power and without envy: he was greeted and courted, and lying much on his couch in a room always crowded, not because of his fortune, he passed his days in most learned conversation, whenever he was free from writing. Ep. 3.7.5Scrībēbat carmina maiōre cūrā quam ingeniō, nōn numquam iūdicia hominum recitātiōnibus experiēbātur.He wrote poems with more care than talent, and sometimes tested people's judgements by giving readings. Ep. 3.7.6Novissimē ita suādentibus annīs ab urbe sēcessit, sēque in Campāniā tenuit, ac nē adventū quidem novī prīncipis inde commōtus est: magna Caesaris laus sub quō hoc līberum fuit, magna illīus quī hāc lībertāte ausus est ūtī.Finally, as his years advised, he withdrew from the city and kept to Campania, and not even the arrival of the new emperor moved him from there: great praise to the Caesar under whom this was allowed, great praise to the man who dared to use this liberty.
Ep. 3.7.8Erat ūsque ad emācitātis reprehēnsiōnem reprehensionem.He was a lover of beautiful things, to the point of being reproached for buying too much. Ep. 3.7.8Plūrēs īsdem in locīs vīllās possidēbat, adamātīsque novīs priōrēs neglegēbat.He owned several villas in the same districts, and when he fell in love with new ones he neglected the old. Ep. 3.7.8Multum ubīque librōrum, multum statuārum, multum imāginum, quās nōn habēbat modo, vērum etiam venerābātur, Vergilī ante omnēs, cuius nātālem religiōsius quam suum celebrābat, Neāpolī maximē, ubi monimentum eius adīre ut templum solēbat.Everywhere there were many books, many statues, many portraits, which he not only possessed but even revered, Virgil's above all, whose birthday he celebrated more devoutly than his own, especially at Naples, where he used to visit his tomb as if it were a temple. Ep. 3.7.9In hāc tranquillitāte annum quīntum et septuāgēnsimum excessit, dēlicātō magis corpore quam īnfirmō;In this tranquillity he passed his seventy-fifth year, with a body delicate rather than infirm; Ep. 3.7.9utque novissimus ā Nerōne factus est cōnsul, ita postrēmus ex omnibus, quōs Nerō cōnsulēs fēcerat, dēcessit.and just as he was the last to be made consul by Nero, so he was the last to die of all those whom Nero had made consuls.
Ep. 3.7.10Illud etiam notābile: ultimus ex Nerōniānīs cōnsulāribus obiit, quō cōnsule Nerō periit.This too is remarkable: the last of Nero's consulars has died, and it was in his consulship that Nero perished. Ep. 3.7.10Quod mē recordantem fragilitātis hūmānae miserātiō subit.When I recall this, pity for human frailty comes over me. Ep. 3.7.11Quid enim tam circumcīsum tam breve quam hominis vīta longissima?For what is so cut short, so brief, as the longest life of a man? Ep. 3.7.11An nōn vidētur tibi Nerō modo modo fuisse?Does it not seem to you that Nero was here only just now? Ep. 3.7.11cum interim ex iīs, quī sub illō gesserant cōnsulātum, nēmō iam superest.and yet meanwhile, of those who held the consulship under him, not one now survives. Ep. 3.7.12Quamquam quid hoc mīror?Yet why do I wonder at this? Ep. 3.7.12Nūper L. Pīsō, pater Pīsōnis illīus, quī Valeriō Fēstō per summum facinus in Āfricā occīsus est, dīcere solēbat nēminem sē vidēre in senātū, quem cōnsul ipse sententiam rogāvisset.Not long ago Lucius Piso, the father of that Piso who was murdered in Africa by Valerius Festus in a most heinous crime, used to say that he saw no one in the senate whom he himself, as consul, had asked for his opinion.
Ep. 3.7.13Tam angustīs terminīs tantae multitūdinis vīvācitās ipsa conclūditur, ut mihi nōn veniā sōlum dignae, vērum etiam laude videantur illae rēgiae lacrimae;Within such narrow bounds is the very lifespan of so great a multitude confined, that those royal tears seem to me to deserve not only pardon but even praise; Ep. 3.7.13nam ferunt Xersēn, cum immēnsum exercitum oculīs obīsset, illacrimāsse, quod tot mīlibus tam brevis imminēret occāsus.for they say that Xerxes, when he had surveyed his immense army with his eyes, wept because so swift an end hung over so many thousands. Ep. 3.7.14Sed tantō magis hoc, quidquid est temporis fūtilis et cadūcī, sī nōn datur factīs - nam hōrum māteria in aliēnā manū -, certē studiīs prōferāmus, et quātenus nōbīs dēnegātur diū vīvere, relinquāmus aliquid, quō nōs vīxisse testēmur.But all the more let us extend this time, whatever it is, fleeting and perishable, if not by deeds — for the material for these lies in another's hand — then certainly by study, and since we are denied a long life, let us leave something by which to bear witness that we have lived.
Ep. 3.7.15Sciō tē stimulīs nōn egēre: mē tamen tuī cāritās ēvocat, ut currentem quoque īnstīgem, sīcut tū solēs mē.I know you do not need spurring: yet my affection for you calls me to urge you on even as you run, just as you do me. Ep. 3.7.15cum invicem sē mūtuīs exhortātiōnibus amīcī ad amōrem immortālitātis exacuunt amorem immortalitatis exacuunt.'Good is this strife' when friends sharpen one another by mutual encouragement to the love of immortality. Ep. 3.7.15Valē.Farewell.