Observationes circa viventia, quae in rebus non viventibus reperiuntur cum micrographia curiosa

are not marred by the boundaries of Fortune or Youth. This is truly worthy of admiration, since youth easily abuses the gifts of Nature; and, protected by the license of their age, many heap up sins and strip away modesty, so that they are swept away by harmful allurements, or at least by useless pursuits.

For you are adorned by things that only grace the elderly: prudence in counsel, maturity in speech, and moderation in the movements of the soul. It is a thing equally great and rare in a young man that he should hold his fortune under his own control and not abuse its indulgence for license. You shine after the manner of your ancestral star, whose higher station places its light in safety and removes it from the danger of terrestrial shadows. You differ from that star in this one way alone: that it sometimes suffers a defect of light due to the interposition of the earth, whereas you never do.

Secure in your high position, you nevertheless lower yourself to everyone; for you combine dignity and courtesy in such a way that whatever is granted to courtesy does not detract from dignity. You receive everyone with a gentle greeting and a mild brow, so much so that no one who knows you closely can fail to proclaim you the delight of Rome. That is truly exalted, that you win over to yourself not only men but also the Heavens through the piety of your character. In this, you are not unlike your ancestral star, for you cling to Heaven with your spirit and are subject to God through religion. That star owes its light to the Prince of the Planets. You owe yours to God, who breathes His light into you; you then owe it to your excellent father, whose duties of piety you not only imitate while you fulfill them, but emulate.