Epistle X. To Albinus.
by
B. G. Esq;
[_]
On the Memory of Virginius Rufus.
MAking a Visit to my Wife's Mother at Alsium, the House formerly of
Virginius Rufus; the Place gave me a melancholy Reflection on the Death of that great Man.
He was us'd to retire hither, and call it the Retreat of his Age: Which way soever I mov'd,
something represented him to me. I went to see his Monument, and beheld it with Surprize;
for it is yet unfinish'd; and that, not thro the Difficulty of the Work,
or the necessary Expences, but the very Indolence of him, to whose Care it was committed.
It rais'd in me an Indignation as well as a Concern; that after ten Years,
his Reliques, his neglected Dust, should lie undistinguish'd, whole Memory shall travel o'er the whole World with Honour.
Himself had particularly directed his immortal Action to be inscrib'd in these Verses.
Here Rufus lies, who, Vindex overthrown,
Settled Rome's Empire, did not seek his own.
So uncertain is the Care of Friends, so common a neglect of the Dead, that it will become necessary to build Tombs,
and anticipate the Duty of our Heirs, for who may not expect what they see happen to
Virginius? The Injury done to whose Memory, is highly aggravated by the Distinction of the Person.
