Epistle XIX. — Ausonius to his Father on the Acknowledgment of his Son

I HAD believed that nought could be added to the sum of my affection whereby, mine honoured father, my love might be increased. Added (thanks to the gods above and to thy grandson, their instrument, who has laid upon our names a two-fold yoke), added is a title whereby my reverence for thee is increased, whereby I may teach my son what 'tis to love a father. This grandson himself hath made thee a grandfather: to me he too is son, and to thee am I: his birth makes us both fathers. No longer doth natural affection alone inspire me with love for thee: as doubly a father I love thee now. For I seem made thy peer, because a little boy ennobles me too with the distinction of that name; not because our age is the same, since I somewhat approach thee in age and can pass as thy brother, nor does so great a span divide our years as the seasons which part others. I have seen brothers whose birthdays were separated by as many years as ours: names add no weight to years. Fair youth so blends with old age in thee, that thy earlier time of life lingers, while thy present but begins. And, methinks, these two ages have agreed each to present itself without hurrying on their seasons, this gently gliding onwards, that approaching without haste, bringing ripe fruit while yet the flower remains. I vow, my dearest father, that I know not thy years, and account thine as many as I deem my own. Let no son know these, let the too hasty heir reckon them up, his heart set more on inheritance than loving wishes, teaching his sons to grow tip after such bad pattern as to hope they too have no long-lived father. But I, born when my sire was in his earliest youth, will avow that I delight that our times of life are so nearly matched. What I owe as a son, my dear love for thy grandson moves me, his father, to increase, the more to honour thee as a grandsire. Thou too, my sire, rejoice in thy doubled title now that thy son in early youth hath made thee grandfather. A small thing 'tis to be a grandfather: may the kind powers be propitious, and by his own grandson may the grandfather be made great-grandfather. Even further the Fates will have power to prolong thine age: but those prayers, methinks, are rather answered which are moderate.