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ricardiennehas somehow made me quite depressed. Part of it is just the number of depressing things that happen: the terminally ill commit suicide, promising young men and noble old ones get sick and die, wives and daughters die in childbirth, children and favorite slaves die tragically. Women heroically encourage their husbands to commit suicide (at least two letters reference Arria stabbing herself and gasping out "it doesn't hurt, Paetus", not to mention the wife of the terminally ill man who tied herself to him and jumped off a pier).
But part of it must be all the things that are referenced, and that are lost (i.e. almost everything). "I love your hendecasyllables: I know they'll make you immortal." "They tried to burn Helvidius' books, but Fannia saved them: literature doesn't die." (Don't I wish it were true: I hate that bit of dramatic irony.)
But part of it must be all the things that are referenced, and that are lost (i.e. almost everything). "I love your hendecasyllables: I know they'll make you immortal." "They tried to burn Helvidius' books, but Fannia saved them: literature doesn't die." (Don't I wish it were true: I hate that bit of dramatic irony.)
