Parentalia XIII. — Avitianus, my Brother

Muse, do thou enrich Avitianus, my brother, with a mournful lay. In years below, me, but in gifts of mind above, he learned our father's art. But Atropos, his foe, forbade him fully to enjoy the gladsome bloom of youth or to pass beyond the bounds which mark the end of boyhood. Ah, what grief for his playmates! Ah, from how glorious a life, and what rich hopes you turned away while yet a lad, my brother — my brother by the law of flesh and parentage of blood, in love almost my son!