Letter 5: Aeneas turns a robbery into praise of learning as secure wealth.

May the criminals who treated your house so wickedly come to a wicked end, whoever they were. I cannot say how deeply I was hurt, by the gods. Yet at last some consolation has come to me, and it is right to share it with you. I reflected that the disaster is not wholly useless. Now you will know more firmly that gold, silver, and splendid clothes, though fought over by most people, are unstable things. They do not truly belong to the person who has them, since anyone who wants to plunder can take them. But learning and wisdom, though foolish people laugh at them, are a secure possession, fixed, inexhaustible, and stronger than robbery. Hold fast to that instead, and you will no longer need walls, weapons, or a line of guards to protect it.