Horace and His Influence by Grant Showerman
page 42 of 134 (31%)
page 42 of 134 (31%)
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bed to bed, from bath to bath and barber to barber, and is just as
seasick in a hired boat as the wealthy man on board his private yacht. And not only are all men the victims of insatiable desire, but all are alike subject to the uncertainties of fate. Insolent Fortune without notice flutters her swift wings and leaves them. Friends prove faithless, once the cask is drained to the lees. Death, unforeseen and unexpected, lurks in ambush for them in a thousand places. Some are swallowed up by the greedy sea. Some the Furies give to destruction in the grim spectacle of war. Without respect of age or person, the ways of death are thronged with young and old. Cruel Proserpina passes no man by. Even they who for the time escape the object of their dread must at last face the inevitable. Invoked or not invoked, Death comes to release the lowly from toil, and to strip the proud of power. The same night awaits all; everyone must tread once for all the path of death. The summons is delivered impartially at the hovels of the poor and the turreted palaces of the rich. The dark stream must be crossed by prince and peasant alike. Eternal exile is the lot of all, whether nameless and poor, or sprung of the line of Inachus: A_las! my Postumus, alas! how speed_ T_he passing years: nor can devotion's deed_ S_tay wrinkled age one moment on its way_, N_or stay one moment death's appointed day_; N_ot though with thrice a hundred oxen slain_ E_ach day thou prayest Pluto to refrain_, T_he unmoved by tears, who threefold Geryon drave_, |
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