And besides these, how many other things there are that militate against, I do not say the eternity, but even the survival of one's name. First there is the death of those with whom one has passed one's life; and that forgetfulness which is the common bane of old age: then there is the rising fame, ever growing greater, of new men; which always, by its freshness, is somewhat derogatory to that of those who went before, and seems to mount up higher just in so far as it can depress this other down. Then you must add, also, that persistent envy which ever dogs the steps of those who embark on any glorious enterprise; and the hatred of Truth itself, and the fact that the very life of men of genius is odious to the crowd. Think, too, how fickle is the judgment of the multitude. And alas for the sepulchres of the dead! to shatter which—
"The wild fig's barren branch is strong enough,"[60]
as Juvenal has told us.
In your own Africa you call this, elegantly enough, "a second death"; and if I may here address to you the same words you have put in the mouth of another—
"The animated bust and storied urn
Shall fall, and with them fall thy memory,
And thou, my son, thus taste a second death."[61]
Lo, then, how excellent, how undying that glory must be which the fall of one poor stone can bring to nought!
And, then, consider the perishing of books wherein your name has been written, either by your own hand or another's. Even though that perishing may appear so much more delayed as books outlast monuments, nevertheless it is sooner or later inevitable; for, as is the case with everything else, there are countless natural or fortuitous calamities to which books are ever exposed. And even if they escape all these, they, like us, grow old and die—
"For whatsoever mortal hand has made,
With its vain labour, shall be mortal too,"[62]
if one may be allowed, for choice, to refute your childish error by your own words.
What need to say more? I shall never cease to bring to your recollection lines of your own making which only too truly fit the case.