Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 13

Haec ergo atque eiusmodi solacia admoveo Liberali nostro incredibili quodam patriae suae amore flagranti, quae fortasse consumpta est, ut in melius excitaretur. Saepe maiori fortunae locum fecit iniuria. Multa ceciderunt, ut altius surgerent. Timagenes felicitati urbis inimicus aiebat Romae sibi incendia ob hoc unum dolori esse, quod sciret meliora surrectura quam arsissent.

Voilà entre autres discours les consolations que je présente à notre Libéralis qui brûle d’un incroyable amour pour sa patrie ; et cette patrie peut-être n’a été consumée que pour renaître plus brillante. Souvent le dommage a préparé la place à une situation meilleure : bien des choses sont tombées pour se relever plus grandes et plus belles. Timagène, cet ennemi de la prospérité de Rome, disait : « Si les incendies de cette ville me font peine, c’est que je sais que ses débris ressusciteront en meilleur état qu’auparavant.

Hence it is thoughts like these, and of this kind, which I am offering as consolation to our friend Liberalis, who burns with a love for his country that is beyond belief. Perhaps its destruction has been brought about only that it may be raised up again to a better destiny. Oftentimes a reverse has but made room for more prosperous fortune. Many structures have fallen only to rise to a greater height. Timagenes, who had a grudge against Rome and her prosperity, used to say that the only reason he was grieved when conflagrations occurred in Rome was his knowledge that better buildings would arise than those which had gone down in the flames.