This unjust feeling doesn't last long in my mind, and going from one extreme to the other, I would rather be more unhappy if it means that you are not. It then seems to me that the Romans are right to exile me, for I am able to disturb the peace of their future ruler. I wish I could leave without upsetting you, carrying your sorrow in my heart along with mine. In this feeling of great tenderness, I feel more compassion for you than for myself. However, since I am forced to live without you, I am certain to often hear news about you, even if you will not give them to me. Fame will bring me the good deeds you will do, and I wholeheartedly wish it could share my tears as well as your successes, making sure that you know that neither time nor distance will diminish my torment and affection. Remember, dear Titus, every time your great heart will push you to perform a good deed, I will find both comfort and sorrow in it. I will rejoice in your glory and lament the loss I have suffered, but whatever happens, I will always love you just as much. However, I believe that I will not remain worried about the events regarding you for long, for the pain I feel is so strong that I don't think it can last. If my exile was the result of your disloyalty, if your feelings for me had changed, if your contempt was the cause of my misery, I would at least have the consolation to identify you as the cause of my departure. I would alleviate my torment by branding you as ungrateful and treacherous. Anger and resentment would share my heart. I would hope that one day I could stop loving you. Out of resentment or pride, I would part from you almost without crying. But in the present circumstances, I see everywhere reasons to aggravate myself and nothing that can soothe my suffering. I lose not only a lover, but a faithful lover, and I lose him in a way that does not allow me to complain about him. I encourage the Senate and the Roman people to never complain about the Emperor, for he is their father, and I can accuse them, not of having loved me badly, but of having not considered me sufficiently. Thus, I become the most unfortunate person who ever existed. But wait, this is where I find some subject to comfort myself! I leave Titus and it is not he who leaves me. Destiny tears me away from him against his will. It threatens him with taking away the crown if he does not agree to my exile. And in this moment, I have the satisfaction of knowing that my dear Titus values me more than the Empire.

It is true though that I must abandon him, but at least I have the advantage in leaving that I remain in his soul and nothing can drive me out of it. I see that your silence validates what I am saying. Your sighs assure me of this and your tears do not allow me to doubt it. Certainly, your soul is too well made to be capable of infidelity or forgetting. Frivolity is a flaw you do not have because it is a sign of weakness and lack of judgement, unworthy of you. One should not offer the heart without thinking for a long time, but once it has been offered, it should never be taken back.

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