m uelis nec
fortuna possit auferre. Atque ut agnoscas in his fortuitis rebus
beatitudinem constare non posse, sic collige. Si beatitudo est summum
naturae bonum ratione degentis nec est summum bonum quod eripi ullo modo
potest, quoniam praecellit id quod nequeat auferri, manifestum est
quoniam[107] ad beatitudinem percipiendam fortunae instabilitas adspirare
non possit. Ad haec quem caduca ista felicitas uehit uel scit eam uel
nescit esse mutabilem. Si nescit, quaenam beata sors esse potest
ignorantiae caecitate? Si scit, metuat necesse est, ne amittat quod amitti
posse non dubitat; quare continuus timor non sinit esse felicem. An uel si
amiserit, neglegendum putat? Sic quoque perexile bonum est quod aequo animo
feratur amissum. Et quoniam tu idem es cui persuasum atque insitum
permultis demonstrationibus scio mentes hominum nullo modo esse mortales
cumque clarum sit fortuitam felicitatem corporis morte finiri, dubitari
nequit, si haec afferre beatitudinem potest, quin omne mortalium genus in
miseriam mortis fine labatur. Quod si multos scimus beatitudinis fructum
non morte solum uerum etiam doloribus suppliciisque quaesisse, quonam modo
praesens facere beatos potest quae miseros transacta non efficit?

[107] quin _codices_.

IV.

To which I answered: "The things which thou reportest are true, O nurse
of all virtues, and I cannot deny the most speedy course of my
prosperity. But this is that which vexeth me most, when I remember it.
For in all adversity of fortune it is the most unhappy kind of
misfortune to have been happy." "But," quoth she, "thou canst not justly
impute to the things themselves that thou art punished for thy false
opinion. For if this vain name of casual felicity moveth thee, let us
make accompt with how many and how great things thou aboundest.
Wherefore, if that which in all thy revenues of fortune thou esteemest
most precious doth still by God's providence remain safe and untouched,
canst thou, retaining the best, justly complain of misfortune?

But thy father-in-law, Symmachus (that most excellent ornament of
mankind) liveth in safety, and for the obtaining of which thou wouldst
willingly spend thy life, that man wholly framed to wisdom and virtues,
being secure of his own, mourneth for thy injuries. Thy wife liveth,
modest in disposition, eminent in chastity, and, to rehearse briefly all
her excellent gifts, like her father. She liveth, I say, and