Bartolomeo Scala, Whether a Wise Man Should Take a Wife (11):
Yet I think that it is pleasant to raise at home an heir, a palliative and comforter to the sufferings of old age. But there can be no better or more pleasant heirs than friends, whom you select – not ones whom you are compelled to have whether you will or not. Moses and Samuel preferred others to their own children, and they did not consider as their own children the ones whom they observed to be displeasing to God.
Though one hopes for the solaces of old age, most frequently we are objects of hatred, and people rejoice that we are dead more than they take comfort in our lives. I don’t want to follow up all of the inconveniences of having children, lest I become prolix and seem to write books to you rather than mere letters, especially since there are many things left which my little discourse here is hastening on to.
Suave tamen credo est domi nutrire heredem senectutisque malorum levamen ac solatium. Sed nulli meliores ac suaviores esse possunt heredes quam amici, quos eligas, non quos velis nolis habere cogaris. Moses quoque ac Samuel filiis suis alios praetulerunt, nec habuerunt pro liberis quos ingratos esse Deo animadverterunt. Solatia vero cum exoptantur senectutis, frequentissime odio sumus, mortuosque magis gauderent quam vivos consolarentur. Nolo persequi omnes filiorum incommoditates ne sim longior et librum potius componere quam epistolam scribere ad te videar, praesertim cum multa restent ad quae festinat oratio.
This title is too sneaky funny for most. but I appreciate it
Thanks. I write for a small but highly cultured audience, as the author said when he dedicated his book to a block of blue cheese.