...strious friend simply that his calamity is without hope, irretrievable and eternal; that it is idle to implore the gods to restore the dead; and that, although his lyre may be more sweet than that of Orpheus , he cannot reanimate the shadow of his friend nor persuade the ghost-compelling god to unbar the gates of death. He urges patience as the sole resource. He alludes not unfrequently to his own de...