Often the hearts of men and women are stirred, as likewise they are soothed in  their sorrows more by example than by words. And therefore, because I too I have  known some consolation from speech had with one who was a witness thereof, am I  now minded to write of the sufferings which have sprung out of my misfortunes, for  the eyes of one who, though absent, is of himself ever a consoler. This I do so that,  in comparing your sorrows with mine, you may discover that yours are in truth nought, or at the most but of small account, and so shall you come to bear them more easily