You should know, Melior, that the little pieces regarding that tree and that parrot of yours were written in epigrammatic fashion. My dear Pollius’s Surrentine villa comes next that piece deserved more diligent composition, to honour his eloquence, but as a friend he has forgiven me. Nor am I boasting of it to you, who know, but am indicating it to others who might otherwise criticise the piece too harshly, coming as it did from a sorrowful writer to a grieving recipient, given that tardy consolation is well-nigh superfluous. I sent a poem of consolation, as you know, for this recent loss, so promptly that I felt I owed you an apology for its alacrity. For its first theme is our dear Glaucias, who as a charming infant under your roof, one of the unfortunates whose destiny so often turns out to be thus, I embraced and loved, he who is now no longer yours.
Such is my friendship with you, in which I delight, dear Melior, who are no less elegant in your literary discernment than in the whole tenor of your life, and such the nature of the little works I dedicate to you, that this whole book of mine would seek your regard even without this letter.
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