Letter 69: Procopius turns Palladius's grief into a lesson in virtue, providence, and parental duty.

Your Wisdom's letter, when merely seen, stirred its usual pleasure in everyone. But when we had to learn what was written, we nearly filled it with tears. Those whose prosperity is shared must also share whatever grief touches them. For God's sake, look how boldly Fortune behaves, refusing to distinguish anything if she is eager to shoot. She fires her arrows at the good as readily as at the wicked. If events were measured by virtue, be sure that you would not have experienced unjust Fortune. As it is, you mourn a wife: a self-controlled woman, as one would expect, and the kind of woman who deserved to live with a wise man. The most terrible thing is that she was the mother of children, and children still in need of a mother. Who could hear this and not weep? Who could suffer it and endure, unless he had been blessed with a mind like yours? I am convinced that, following Isocrates, you trained yourself in events before suffering anything yourself, by seeing many such things and hearing many described. What hardship does life not bring upon us? What does it show milder than the sea? One man is lifted high; another, when he has reached the height, finds Fortune betraying him and falls. One man grows old asking death as a consolation; another is snatched away before youth. One man marries; another mourns the woman who lived with him. These things fill life and hurry to confirm Homer's judgment that the earth nourishes nothing more frail than human beings. From every side the divine power votes that nothing remain as it has become. If anything goes according to human wishes, wait a little, it says, and it will surely be gone. Let the suffering itself be assigned to God's providence and to a command that certainly guides our affairs well. But to bear nobly whatever God gives is to conquer by virtue and not hand everything over to Fortune. This is the adornment of good people: that their judgment does not fall along with their circumstances. Enough tears, then. You will not raise her up before another evil comes upon you. For your children you yourself will become a mother, and God by his command will bring your hopes for them into action.

Παλλαδίωι Ἡ τῆς ὑμετέρας σοφίας ἐπιστολὴ ὁρωμένη μὲν πᾶσιν ἐκίνει συνήθως τὴν ἡδονήν· ὡς δὲ καὶ μανθάνειν ἔδει τὰ γεγραμμένα, μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ δακρύων αὐτὴν ἐπληρώσαμεν. ὧν γὰρ αἱ εὐπραγίαι κοιναί, τούτους καὶ εἴ τι λυπεῖ μετέχειν πάντως ἀνάγκη. ἀλλ' ὅρα πρὸς θεῶν, ὁπόσον ἡ Τύχη νεανιεύεται, μηδὲν ἐθέλουσα διακρίνειν, εἰ βάλλειν ἐπείγεται πονηρούς, εἰ κατὰ σπουδαίων ἀφίησι τὰ τοξεύματα. εἰ γὰρ ἦν ἀρετῇ μετρεῖσθαι τὰ πράγματα, οὐκ ἂν εὖ ἴσθι τῆς ἀδίκου Τύχης πεπείρασο. νυνὶ δὲ γυναῖκα θρηνεῖς, σώφρονα μέν, ὡς εἰκός, καὶ οἵαν ἔπρεπεν ἀνδρὶ σοφῷ συνοικεῖν, τὸ δὲ δεινότατον, παίδων μητέρα, καὶ τούτων ἔτι δεομένων μητρός. ταῦτα τίς μὲν ἀκούων οὐκ ἂν δακρύσειε, τίς δὲ παθὼν καρτεροίη μὴ γνώμην εὐτυχήσας τὴν σήν; πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὡς Ἰσοκράτει πειθόμενος, πρίν τι παθεῖν, αὐτὸς ἐγυμνάσω τοῖς πράγμασι, πολλὰ μὲν ὁρῶν τοιαῦτα, πολλὰ δὲ διηγουμένων ἀκούων. τί γὰρ τῶν χαλεπῶν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἄγει τὸν βίον; τί δὲ θαλάττης δείκνυσιν ἡμερώτερον; ὁ μὲν αἴρεται μέγας, ὁ δὲ πρὸς ὕψος ἐλθὼν προδιδοῦσαν ἔσχε τὴν Τύχην καὶ πέπτωκε· καὶ ὁ μὲν γηρᾷ τὸν θάνατον εἰς παραμυθίαν αἰτῶν, ὁ δὲ πρὸ τῆς ἥβης ἀνήρπασται. γαμεῖ τις ἕτερος, ὁ δὲ τὴν συνοικοῦσαν ὀδύρεται. ταῦτα τὸν βίον πληροῖ, καὶ τὴν Ὁμήρου βεβαιοῦν ἐπείγεται γνώμην, ὡς οὐδὲν ἀκιδνότερον γαῖα τρέφει ἀνθρώποιο· πανταχόθεν γὰρ ψηφίζεται τὸ δαιμόνιον μηδὲν μένειν οἷον καὶ γέγονεν, ἀλλ' εἴ τι κατὰ νοῦν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις, μικρόν ἀνάμεινον, καὶ πάντως οἰχήσεται. τὸ μὲν οὖν παθεῖν θεοῦ προνοίᾳ δεδόσθω καὶ νεύματι πάντως καλῶς ἄγοντι τὰ ἡμέτερα, τὸ δὲ φέρειν ὅ τι ἂν ὁ θεὸς διδῷ γενναίως, νικᾶν ἐστιν ἀρετῇ καὶ μὴ πάντα διδόναι τῇ Τύχῃ. τοῦτο γὰρ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἐγκαλλώπισμα, τὸ μὴ τὴν γνώμην συμμεταπίπτειν τοῖς πράγμασιν. οὐκοῦν ἅλις ἔστω δακρύων· οὐ γὰρ μιν ἀνστήσεις, πρὶν καὶ κακὸν ἄλλο πάθῃσθα. τοῖς δὲ παισὶν αὐτός τε μήτηρ γενήσῃ καὶ θεὸς τὰς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἐλπίδας εἰς ἔργον ἄξει τῷ νεύματι.