But ye stand there aloof, and not a word.

O good Seneca,

Rememberest thou thy days in Corsica?

The stoic letters of thine exile, writ

With Naso’s pang, and that exuberant page

To me, at the first tidings of recall.

I have it still, the letter, superscribed

Your most devoted slave. Was not that felt?

Had’st thou not cause? Now is the opportunity

Of my distress, now I stand to lose all,