Ep. 5.16.1Trīstissimus haec tibi scrībō, Fundānī nostrī fīlia minōre dēfūnctā.I write this to you in great sadness, our friend Fundanus' younger daughter having died. Ep. 5.16.1Quā puellā nihil umquam fēstīvius amābilius, nec modo longiōre vītā sed prope immortālitāte dignius vīdī.I have never seen anything more charming or lovable than that girl, or more worthy not only of a longer life but almost of immortality. Ep. 5.16.2Nōndum annōs xiiii implēverat, et iam illī anīlis prūdentia, mātrōnālis gravitās erat et tamen suāvitās puellāris cum virginālī verēcundiā.She had not yet reached the age of fourteen, and already she had the good sense of an old woman, the dignity of a matron, and yet a girl's sweetness together with a maiden's modesty. Ep. 5.16.3Ut illa patris cervīcibus inhaerēbat!How she used to cling to her father's neck! Ep. 5.16.3ut nōs amīcōs paternōs et amanter et modestē complectēbātur!how lovingly and modestly she would embrace us, her father's friends! Ep. 5.16.3ut nūtrīcēs, ut paedagōgōs, ut praeceptōrēs prō suō quemque officiō dīligēbat!how she loved her nurses, her attendants, her teachers, each according to their service! Ep. 5.16.3quam studiōsē, quam intellegenter lēctitābat!how eagerly, how intelligently she used to read!
Ep. 5.16.3ut parcē custōdītēque lūdēbat!how sparingly and carefully she played! Ep. 5.16.3Quā illa temperantiā, quā patientiā, quā etiam cōnstantiā novissimam valētūdinem tulit!With what self-control, what patience, and even what firmness she bore her last illness! Ep. 5.16.4Medicīs obsequēbātur, sorōrem patrem adhortābātur ipsamque sē dēstitūtam corporis vīribus vigōre animī sustinēbat.She obeyed the doctors, encouraged her sister and her father, and, when the strength of her body had failed her, kept herself going by the vigour of her spirit. Ep. 5.16.5Dūrāvit hic illī ūsque ad extrēmum, nec aut spatiō valētūdinis aut metū mortis īnfrāctus est, quō plūrēs graviōrēsque nōbīs causās relinqueret et dēsīderiī et dolōris.This lasted in her right to the end, and was broken neither by the length of her illness nor by the fear of death, so as to leave us more and heavier reasons for both longing and grief. Ep. 5.16.6Ō trīste plānē acerbumque fūnus!O truly sad and bitter death! Ep. 5.16.6ō morte ipsā mortis tempus indignius!o time of death more cruel than death itself! Ep. 5.16.6iam dēstināta erat ēgregiō iuvenī, iam ēlēctus nūptiārum diēs, iam nōs vocātī.she was already engaged to an excellent young man, the wedding day already chosen, we already invited.
Ep. 5.16.6Quod gaudium quō maerōre mūtātum est!Into what grief has that joy been turned! Ep. 5.16.7Nōn possum exprimere verbīs quantum animō vulnus accēperim, cum audīvī Fundānum ipsum, ut multa lūctuōsa dolor invenit, praecipientem, quod in vestēs margarīta gemmās fuerat ērogātūrus, hoc in tūs et unguenta et odōrēs impenderētur.I cannot express in words how deep a wound I felt in my heart when I heard Fundanus himself — for grief invents many sorrowful things — giving instructions that what he had been going to spend on clothes, pearls and jewels should be spent on incense, ointments and perfumes. Ep. 5.16.8Est quidem ille ērudītus et sapiēns, ut quī sē ab ineunte aetāte altiōribus studiīs artibusque dēdiderit;He is, indeed, a learned and wise man, as one who has devoted himself from his earliest years to deeper studies and arts; Ep. 5.16.8sed nunc omnia, quae audiit saepe quae dīxit, aspernātur expulsīsque virtūtibus aliīs pietātis est tōtus.but now he scorns everything he has often heard and often said, and, all his other virtues driven out, he is wholly given over to his love as a father.
Ep. 5.16.9Ignōscēs, laudābis etiam, sī cōgitāveris quid āmīserit.You will forgive him, and even praise him, if you think what he has lost. Ep. 5.16.9Āmīsit enim fīliam, quae nōn minus mōrēs eius quam ōs vultumque referēbat, tōtumque patrem mīrā similitūdine exscrīpserat.For he has lost a daughter who resembled him no less in character than in face and expression, and had copied her whole father with a wonderful likeness. Ep. 5.16.10Proinde sī quās ad eum dē dolōre tam iūstō litterās mittēs, mementō adhibēre sōlācium nōn quasi castīgātōrium et nimis forte, sed molle et hūmānum.So if you send him any letter about a grief so just, remember to offer comfort that is not as it were reproving and too forceful, but gentle and kind. Ep. 5.16.10Quod ut facilius admittat, multum faciet mediī temporis spatium.An interval of time will do much to make him accept it more readily. Ep. 5.16.11Ut enim crūdum adhūc vulnus medentium manūs refōrmīdat, deinde patitur atque ultrō requīrit, sīc recēns animī dolor cōnsōlātiōnēs rēicit ac refugit, mox dēsīderat et clēmenter admōtīs acquiēscit.For just as a wound that is still raw shrinks from the hands of those treating it, then endures them and even seeks them out, so a fresh grief of the mind rejects and shuns consolations, but soon longs for them and finds rest in them when they are gently applied.
Ep. 5.16.11Valē.Farewell.