[104]
Why need I speak of our constant
devotion to investigation and to learning in which,
remote from the gaze of men, we spent all our
leisure time? If my recollection and memory of
these things had died with him, I could not now by
any means endure the loss of a man so very near and
dear to me. But those experiences with him are
not dead; rather they are nourished and made
more vivid by my reflection and memory; and
even if I were utterly deprived of the power to recall
them, yet my age would of itself afford me great
relief; for I cannot have much longer time to bear
this bereavement; besides, every trial, which is of
brief duration, ought to be endurable, even if it
be severe.
This is all that I had to say about friendship;
but I exhort you both so to esteem virtue (without
which friendship cannot exist), that, excepting
virtue, you will think nothing more excellent than
friendship.
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