Letter 1054: Good gods, how nothing is safe or certain for us mortals!

Good gods, how nothing is secure and certain for a human being! Surely it was to ease your spirit that you had withdrawn to Baiae. What evil eye bewitched the repose you had appointed for yourself? And so our shared concern for Paulina had reached the utmost peril of her life; or is your dread on her behalf so great that you count every trouble of hers as tantamount to deadly danger? Whatever good there is, one may survey it in the mind: what hardships of days, what vigils of nights you have endured. We are born to this condition, that more often we have adverse things to deal with. Pleasures flee, and the enjoyment of every good thing is as brief as the perception of it is slight. But let these matters be left to the disputations of the philosophers. For now let us urge upon our minds a more cheerful disposition, since the favor of the gods has once more set the health of our Paulina upon a firm footing. Farewell.

Dii boni, qnam nihil bomini tntnm atque exploratnm est! certe levandi animi cansa Baias concesseratis. qnis ocnlns fascinavit destinatam qnietem? Panlina ergo 20 cnra commnnis extremnm salutis accesserat; an vester pro illa tantus est metns, nt omne eins incommodum periculi instar habeatur? qnidquid bomm est, spectare animo licet, qnas aemmnas diemm, quas noctinm vigilias dnxeritis. sic nati snmns, nt saepins adversa fungamnr. fuginnt voluptates et bonae cninsqne rei tam brevis nsns qnam levis sensns est. vemm baec philosophomm dispntationibns relinqnantnr. nnnc 25 babitnm laetiorem mentibns snadeamns. qnando Panlinae nostrae valetndinem rarsns locavit in solido pax deomm. vale. rides etj ITr, radi sed V, risidet ^, ride F rideas] ITJypF, ridetas V affaisti JTT, om, F Ofn. V b om. VF 6 impulit F 7 reiidere F 8 ora totnm] Scioppiuty oratorium V, oratorem F annibalem VF 9 illecebra F 10 retentum F adnenarum] F, aduentarnm ITV(r) lutos ITV, lucos F arbor om. F euaserat F suadia V tricinium] Latinut LaiiniuSy triclinium VFF^ nulUus VF uestrae (IT) XXXXVim (XXXXm) ante a. 385.