Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 24

Deinde non amicorum illic aut liberorum interitus, sed corporum est. Bonum autem uno modo perit, si in malum transit; quod natura non patitur, quia omnis virtus et opus omne virtutis incorruptum manet. Deinde etiam si amici perierunt, etiam si probati respondentesque voto patris liberi, est quod illorum expleat locum. Quid sit quaeris? Quod illos quoque bonos fecerat, virtus.

D’ailleurs ce ne sont pas mes amis, mes enfants qui sont morts, ce sont leurs personnes. Et le bien ne saurait périr que d’une manière ; en devenant mal, ce que la nature ne permet pas, parce que
toute vertu et tout produit de la vertu demeure incorruptible. Puis, quand j’aurais perdu des amis, des enfants irréprochables et qui répondaient aux vœux de leur père, il me reste de quoi m’en tenir lieu. Qui m’en tiendra lieu ? Tu le demandes ? Ce qui les avait faits bons : la vertu.

In the second place, this does not mean to me the taking-off of a friend or of a child; it is the mere taking-off of their bodies. But a good can be lost in only one way, by changing into what is bad; and this is impossible according to the law of nature, because every virtue, and every work of virtue, abides uncorrupted. Again, even if friends have perished, or children of approved goodness who fulfil their father’s prayers for them, there is something that can fill their place. Do you ask what this is? It is that which had made them good in the first place, namely, virtue.