I do not want to make myself out worse than I am; it grieves me too to see them drooping.

But nothing that I do brings me happiness--at most it moderates my fears.

You ask what I am afraid of ?--of everything, everything that can happen to me, for I have no reason to look forward to anything good.

When there is a knock, it may be a creditor; when people look at Arsinoe in the street, I seem to see dishonor lurking round her; when my father acts against the advice of the physician I feel as if we were standing already roofless in the open street.

What is there that I can do with a happy mind?
I certainly am not idle, still I envy the woman who can sit with her hands in her lap and be waited on by slaves, and if a golden treasure fell into my possession, I would never stir a finger again, and would sleep every day till the sun was high and make slaves look after my father and the children.