Stultifera Navis or, The Modern Ship of Fools [by S. W. H. Ireland] |
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VI. |
VII. |
VIII. |
IX. |
X. |
XI. |
XII. |
XIII. |
XIV. |
XV. |
XVI. |
XVII. |
XVIII. |
XIX. |
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XXI. |
XXII. |
XXIII. |
XXIV. |
XXV. |
XXVI. |
XXVII. |
XXVIII. |
XXIX. |
XXX. |
XXXI. |
XXXII. |
XXXIII. |
XXXIV. |
XXXV. |
XXXVI. |
XXXVII. |
XXXVIII. |
XXXIX. |
XL. |
XLI. |
XLII. |
XLIII. |
XLIV. |
XLV. |
XLVI. |
XLVII. |
XLVIII. |
XLIX. |
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LI. |
LII. |
LIII. |
LIV. |
LV. |
LVI. |
LVII. |
LVIII. |
LIX. |
LX. |
LXI. |
LXII. | SECTION LXII.
OF THE FOLLY OF ALL THE WORLD. |
LXIII. |
LXIV. |
LXV. |
LXVI. |
Stultifera Navis | ||
265
SECTION LXII. OF THE FOLLY OF ALL THE WORLD.
Ce monde est plein de fous, et qui n'en veut pas voir,
Doit se renfermer seul, et casser son miroir.
Doit se renfermer seul, et casser son miroir.
All the world's a mass of folly,
Youth is gay, age melancholy;
Youth is spending, age is thrifty,
Mad at twenty, cold at fifty.
Man is naught but folly's slave,
From the cradle to the grave .
Youth is gay, age melancholy;
Youth is spending, age is thrifty,
Mad at twenty, cold at fifty.
Man is naught but folly's slave,
From the cradle to the grave .
What creates the infant's joy?
Rattle, bells, and painted toy:
What the youth's? the wish to prove,
All his fervor, all his love;
And these pastimes, when grown old,
All forgot; absorb'd in gold .
Rattle, bells, and painted toy:
What the youth's? the wish to prove,
All his fervor, all his love;
And these pastimes, when grown old,
All forgot; absorb'd in gold .
266
What but wealth is man pursuing,
What but gold is man's undoing;
Mundane glory's supposition,
Worldly pleasure's imposition;
Health's precarious, life's uncertain,
Soon or late, death drops the curtain.
What but gold is man's undoing;
Mundane glory's supposition,
Worldly pleasure's imposition;
Health's precarious, life's uncertain,
Soon or late, death drops the curtain.
Rear'd in folly's ideot schoolerie,
Ev'ry age thus boasts its foolerie;
From the mewling infant season,
To man's dotage—want of reason :
Then bravo, fool, thy flag's unfurl'd,
And waves the ensign of the world.
Ev'ry age thus boasts its foolerie;
From the mewling infant season,
To man's dotage—want of reason :
Then bravo, fool, thy flag's unfurl'd,
And waves the ensign of the world.
267
L'ENVOY OF THE POET.
Folly and humankind agree so well,Zany shall toll dame reason's passing knell.
THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS.
Come, cheer up fools, these welcome tidings greet,For now the world is yours, there's room for bliss;
Such countless numbers shall fit out a fleet,
Instead of manning only one Navis.
From the moment reason begins to assume its emporium, folly and vice equally claim a share of the human mind, because the passions ripen quicker than the intellect, and it was on this account, that Bias, one of the seven sages of Greece, hath said, Οι πλειονες κακοι.
It appears very surprising, on the first contemplation, that men should slip into the different stages of existence, indulging in their foibles, without being scarcely ever noticed by those individuals who surround them; yet this is not at all to be wondered at, when we consider that
Niminum insanus paucis videatur, eo quod,
Maxima pars hominum morbo jactatur eodem.
Maxima pars hominum morbo jactatur eodem.
Stultifera Navis | ||