Letter to Hermarchus

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The Letter to Hermarchus is extant letter of Epicurus written at the very end of his life. It is preserved by Cicero in De Finibus II.30.96:

Epicurus to Hermarchus, greeting. I write these words on the happiest, and the last, day of my life. I am suffering from diseases of the bladder and intestines, which are of the utmost possible severity. Yet all my sufferings are counterbalanced by the joy which I derive from remembering my theories and discoveries. I charge you, by the devotion which from your youth up you have displayed towards myself and towards philosophy, to protect the children of Metrodorus.

See also: Letter from his last days