reading which had hitherto had no appeal for him, was vitalized now through his deep love for Tullia, that it took its meaning from his own experience, and must reach the conclusion that his love for her dictated. We know, of course, that he sought justification for this conclusion in whatever authority he could find. He says so explicitly in a letter to Atticus:[22] In trying to escape from the painful sting of recollection I take refuge in recalling something to your memory. Whatever you think of it, please pardon me. The fact is _I find that some of the authors over whom I am poring consider appropriate the very thing that I have often discussed with you, and I hope you approve of it. I mean the shrine._ Please give it all the attention your affection for me dictates.... I shall use all the opportunities permitted in an age as erudite as this to consecrate her memory by every kind of memorial borrowed from the genius of all the masters, Greek and Latin. Perhaps it will only gall my wound: but I consider myself pledged by a kind of vow or promise; and I am more concerned about the long ages when I shall not be than about my short day, which, short though it is, seems all too long to me. I have tried everything and find nothing that gives me rest. In Greek writers, who justified the apotheosis of Hellenic rulers by appealing to the cult of “Heroes,” he could find such arguments and he seems even to have employed Euhemeristic writings, for he ended the strange _Consolatio_ with the words:[23] If the children of Cadmos, of Amphion and of Tyndarus were carried to heaven in glory, she too deserves this honor. This I shall accomplish and with the approval of the immortal gods shall declare and consecrate you before all the world ... as one of the immortals. His well-stocked library of Greek books was full of such mystical ideas, but they had had no meaning for him till this moment. Now he seized the idea with determination, and to Atticus, who doubtless thought it a passing whim and gave him no encouragement, he wrote almost every day urging him to find a suitable spot for the shrine he proposed to consecrate, and to engage an architect who should plan its erection.