[255] We need give no further proofs of the merits of this wife. More numerous are those of the Sage, some of which I have praised in detail a little earlier. But I will speak of one which concerns the death of his wife, in which his conduct should not be passed over in silence.
[256] When he had lost his life-long partner, whose qualities have been described in our discourse and are related in the oracles, when sorrow was making itself ready to wrestle with his soul, he grappled with it, as in the arena, and prevailed. He gave strength and high courage to the natural antagonist of passion, reason, which he had taken as his counsellor throughout his life and now particularly was determined to obey, so excellent and profitable were its exhortations.
[257] The advice was that he should not grieve over-bitterly as at an utterly new and unheard-of misfortune, nor yet assume an indifference as though nothing painful had occurred, but choose the mean rather than the extremes and aim at moderation of feeling, not resent that nature should be paid the debt which is its due, but quietly and gently lighten the blow.
[258] The testimonies for this are to be found in the holy books which may never be convicted of false witness. They show that after weeping for a little over the corpse he quickly rose up from it, holding further mourning, it appears, to be out of keeping with wisdom, which taught him that death is not the extinction of the soul but its separation and detachment from the body and its return to the place whence it came; and it came, as was shown in the story of creation, from God.
[259] And, as no reasonable person would chafe at repaying a debt or deposit to him who had proffered it, so too he must not fret when nature took back her own, but accept the inevitable with equanimity.
[260] Now, when the chief men of the country came to sympathize and saw nothing of the sort of mourning which was customary with themselves, no wailing, no chanting of dirges, no beating of breasts either of men or of women, but a quiet sober air of sorrow pervading the whole house, they were profoundly amazed, though indeed the rest of his life had struck them with admiration.
[261] Then, as the greatness and glory of his virtue in all its pre-eminence were more than they could keep to themselves, they approached him and exclaimed: “Thou art a king from God among us.” The words were indeed true, for other kingdoms are established among men with wars and campaigns and numberless ills which the ambitious for power inflict on each other in mutual slaughter, with forces of foot and horse and ships which they raise for the strife. But the kingdom of the Sage comes by the gift of God, and the virtuous man who receives it brings no harm to anyone, but the acquisition and enjoyment of good things to all his subjects, to whom he is the herald of peace and order.