 | The Christian Scholar |  |
I. LUCRETIUS AND HORACE COMPARED.
“Nec tamen explemur vitai fructibus unquam.”
Luc.
“Nimium breves
Flores amœnæ ferre jube rosæ.”
Hor
Flores amœnæ ferre jube rosæ.”
Hor
Like awful tones from Nature's mouldering shrine,
Or voices from the Dead, almost divine,
Two bards of Epicurus seem to preach,
Speaking as from their tombs with wondrous speech.
Or voices from the Dead, almost divine,
Two bards of Epicurus seem to preach,
Speaking as from their tombs with wondrous speech.
The one—how poor life's pleasures are and vain,
And cannot satisfy while they remain;
The other with what fleetness they are fled,
When Death amidst them lifts his pallid head.
And cannot satisfy while they remain;
The other with what fleetness they are fled,
When Death amidst them lifts his pallid head.
Such was man's Nature in its fairest show;
She loath'd the roses withering on her brow,
Which as they wither'd left a thorny crown
With blood upon the temples trickling down.
She loath'd the roses withering on her brow,
Which as they wither'd left a thorny crown
With blood upon the temples trickling down.
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