Letter 6070: It's true that a person can't have everything he wishes for at once.

It's true that a person can't have everything he wishes for at once. How much more splendid my birthday would have been if you'd been there! Perhaps in future years, Fortune willing, she'll grant that wish. In the meantime, my dear daughter, I'm delighted and honored by the magnificent piece of weaving you sent me. In one gesture you showed both your love for your father and your skill as a Roman matron. This is how the women of old are said to have lived. In those days, an age bare of luxuries directed the mind toward the loom and the spindle, because without the temptations of a softer time, life was simpler. But you -- even with Baiae [the famous resort town] right at your doorstep -- can't be distracted from your sober craft. You ignore the people splashing in the pools and spend your time sitting or walking among the spindles and baskets of your girls, convinced that these are the only true pleasures your sex should know. Rightly, then, do I love you and judge you worthy of your husband. For us, the pride we take in his accomplishments comes from outside the family -- but the pride we take in your character is born from within. Farewell.

Verum est nequire hominem cuncta pariter voto amica sortiri. quanto luculen- tius natalem mihi diem, si adfuissetis, egissem! quod in reliquum saltem numerosis annorum processibus Fors orata praestabit. interea, domina filia, honoratum me opimo 25 lanificii tui monumento satis gaudeo; una quippe et amor in parentem tuum et in- 2 dnstria matronalis inclaruit. sic priscae feminae vitam coluisse traduntur. et illas quidem deliciarum sterile saeculum colo et telis animum iubebat intendere, quia in- lecebra cessante temporum vivitur: tibi vero etiam Baiae adpositae curam so- brii operis detrahere non possunt. renuntias stagna verrentibus et residens ant ob- 30 ambulans inter pensa et foragines puellarum has solas arbitraris sexus tui esse deli- cias. merito igitur te amo dignamque viro tuo iudico, quando aeque nobis laus et voluptas ex illius perfectione adventicia, ex tua probitate genuina est. vale. 1 fort, expeto a ■ uo/'///e metuitas rem P, s add. 2 m,, u 3 m. post] //st P 12 adsentienti P 1 m, 15 co- herceatur P suppU : tempomm antiquonim more facile uiuitur vel simiU fuid 33 et tua P 2 m. LXVIU (LXVim).