Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.

“Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.” Thus spoke Virgil, the Roman poet whose verses carried the spirit of an empire and the wisdom of ages. His words are like stone pillars standing in the ruins of time: firm, unshaken, eternal. He reminds us that calamity—the great disasters, the sorrows, the trials that beset mortals—cannot always be conquered by strength of arms, nor by cunning intellect, nor by fleeting fortune. They are overcome only by endurance—the steadfast will to suffer, to persist, and to outlast.

The ancients revered endurance as the highest of virtues. For war may be won by strength, politics by guile, and art by genius, but life itself is won by enduring its storms. The oak that withstands the winter, the sailor who rides out the tempest, the soldier who holds the line despite exhaustion—all embody this truth. Virgil, who sang of Aeneas wandering after the fall of Troy, knew well that it was not immediate triumph that built Rome, but centuries of endurance through calamities.

Consider the life of Aeneas, the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid. He lost his home, his city, his king, and his people to fire and blood. Troy was gone, and all seemed ruin. Yet Aeneas endured. He carried his father upon his shoulders, bore his son by his side, and set sail into exile. Through shipwrecks, betrayals, and battles, he did not surrender to despair. His endurance led him at last to the land where Rome would one day rise. Thus Virgil carved into poetry the truth of his own maxim: calamity yields to endurance, and from ruin comes destiny.

History offers its own mirrors. Think of Nelson Mandela, confined in prison for twenty-seven years. The calamity of his life was not short; it was long, grinding, and merciless. Yet he endured. His enemies could shackle his body, but not his spirit. He emerged not broken, but tempered, and by endurance he overcame the calamity of oppression, leading his nation to freedom. His life was a living echo of Virgil’s wisdom: calamities may be vast, but endurance is greater.

O children of tomorrow, you too will face calamities—illness, betrayal, poverty, grief. Do not imagine that life will spare you. But when these storms come, remember Virgil: endure. Do not think endurance is weakness; it is the noblest strength. To endure is not to flee, nor to yield, but to remain when the world would see you fall. It is the art of standing upright while the tempest rages, trusting that time itself will turn the tide.

The lesson is plain: calamity cannot always be defeated in a day. But with endurance, even the darkest night yields to dawn. Practically, let each person do this: when hardship arises, do not despair at its length. Break it into hours, then into moments, and endure each one. When despair whispers that it will never end, answer with patience: “I will outlast you.” Build habits of resilience—through discipline, prayer, meditation, or simple daily perseverance. In doing so, you forge the iron within that no calamity can shatter.

Thus remember Virgil’s words: “Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.” Let them be your shield when disaster strikes. For strength will fail, wealth will vanish, friends may falter—but endurance remains. And the one who endures, though scarred and weary, emerges victorious, carrying forward the eternal truth that calamity is temporary, but the will to endure is everlasting.