Ep. 6.10.1Cum vēnissem in socrūs meae vīllam Alsiēnsem, quae aliquamdiū Rūfī Verginī fuit, ipse mihi locus optimī illīus et maximī virī dēsīderium nōn sine dolōre renovāvit.When I came to my mother-in-law's villa at Alsium, which for some time belonged to Verginius Rufus, the place itself renewed, not without grief, my longing for that best and greatest of men. Ep. 6.10.1Hunc enim colere sēcessum atque etiam senectūtis suae nīdulum vocāre cōnsuēverat.For he had been accustomed to frequent this retreat and even to call it the little nest of his old age. Ep. 6.10.2Quōcumque mē contulissem, illum animus illum oculī requīrēbant.Wherever I went, my mind, my eyes looked for him. Ep. 6.10.2Libuit etiam monimentum eius vidēre, et vīdisse paenituit.I wanted also to see his tomb, and I regretted having seen it. Ep. 6.10.3Est enim adhūc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causā, modicī ac potius exiguī, sed inertia eius cui cūra mandāta est.For it is still unfinished, and the cause is not the difficulty of the work, which is modest, or rather slight, but the idleness of the man to whom the care of it was entrusted.
Ep. 6.10.3Subit indignātiō cum miserātiōne, post decimum mortis annum reliquiās neglēctumque cinerem sine titulō sine nōmine iacēre, cuius memoria orbem terrārum glōriā pervagētur.Indignation comes over me, along with pity, that in the tenth year after his death his remains and neglected ashes lie without an inscription, without a name, though his memory ranges with glory over the whole world. Ep. 6.10.4At ille mandāverat cāveratque, ut dīvīnum illud et immortāle factum versibus īnscrīberētur: Hīc situs est Rūfus, pulsō quī Vindice quondam imperium asseruit nōn sibi sed patriae.Yet he had given instructions and made provision that that divine and immortal deed should be inscribed in verse: 'Here lies Rufus, who once, having routed Vindex, claimed the empire not for himself but for his country.' Ep. 6.10.5Tam rāra in amīcitiīs fidēs, tam parāta oblīviō mortuōrum, ut ipsī nōbīs dēbeāmus etiam conditōria exstruere omniaque hērēdum officia praesūmere.So rare is loyalty in friendships, so ready the forgetting of the dead, that we ought to build even our own tombs and anticipate all the duties of our heirs. Ep. 6.10.6Nam cui nōn est verendum, quod vidēmus accidisse Verginiō?For who need not fear what we see has happened to Verginius?
Ep. 6.10.6cuius iniūriam ut indigniōrem, sīc etiam notiōrem ipsīus clāritās facit.whose wrong his very fame makes as much better known as it makes it more shameful. Ep. 6.10.6Valē.Farewell.