I am not so inhuman as to hate men, whom I am instructed by divine commandment to love as I love myself, but I hate the sins of men, especially my own, and the troubles and sad afflictions that reside among crowds. Take the advice of your dear friend, do not allow yourself to be whirled about by the madness of strangers and the wild caprices of fools. How are the name of pleasures beloved by youth still so dear to them in old age? If you ask those very persons why they are ever anxious to be in the company of others, they will answer, if they are in a mood to tell the truth, that it is only because they cannot endure being alone. I have now no other wish than to celebrate the beauty of a life of leisure, retired from crowded haunts and importunate cares and devoted to the enjoyment of reading and peaceful brooding. The singular joy of the solitary in their freedom from earthly cares.