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mortgages incurred, while life's business is neg-|not tremble, when the parched earth shakes with lected and their reputation is wrecked; in the the fearful peals of thunder, and the whole heaven midst of their imaginary happiness something bit-re-echoes with the noise? Do not people and nater bubbles up to poison their draught of pleasure. tions stand horror-struck? and proud kings tremble at their approaching doom, lest the hour of vengeance should have arrived for their wicked deeds and vaunting words?

So Byron ("Childe Harold," c. 1, 182):-
"Full from the fount of joy's delicious springs

Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings."
And again:-

"There rose no day, there roll'd no hour,

Of pleasure unembitter'd;

And not a trapping deck'd my power,
That gall'd not while it glitter'd."

EVERY MAN HAS A SKELETON CLOSET. Men conceal the back-scenes of their life.

AN INFANT.

Then, the infant, like the sailor tossed on shore by the furious waves, lies naked on the ground helpless, when nature has pushed him from the womb of his mother into the light of day, filling the air with piteous cries, a fit presage of the many

ills that await him in life.

Dryden thus translates this passage:

"Thus like a sailor by a tempest hurl'd
Ashore, the babe is shipwreck'd on the world:
Naked he lies and ready to expire;
Helpless of all that human wants require;
Exposed upon inhospitable earth

From the first moment of his hapless birth.
Straight with foreboding cries he fills the room;
Too true presages of his future doom."

So a translation from the Persian by Sir William Jones:"On parent knees, a naked new-born child,

Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled:
So live that, sinking in thy last long sleep

Calm thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep."

EFFECTS OF TIME.

In short, do you not see stones even yield to the power of time, lofty towers fall to decay, and rocks moulder away? Temples and statues of the gods go to ruin, nor can the gods themselves prolong their date or get reprieve from fate.

COUNTRY PLEASURES.

These pleasures charmed and were wont to delight them when the feast was over, for then all things please. Then reclining on the green grass, by a purling stream, under the umbrageous boughs of some tall tree, they oft enjoyed them-selves at small expense, when the weather smiled in all its beauty, and spring painted the earth with gaudy flowers. Then merry jests, banter, and peals of laughter went round; then rude jokes were in their prime; then roguish merriment made them adorn their heads with garlands of flowers and leaves, and dance out of time, moving their limbs heavily and shaking the trembling ground with leaden steps, while shouts and cheers arose because all the tricks seemed strange and new. And as they passed the night without sleep, they whiled the time away in humorous songs and drollery, making the oaten pipe discourse sweet music with their lips.

"STRAIT IS THE GATE."

He set forth what was that chief good to which we were all tending, and pointed out the road with its narrow path, by which we might advance by a straight course.

So Matthew vii. 14 :"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life."

66 WHAT DEFILETH A MAN."

He understands by this that it is the vessel itself that causes the corruption, and that all things put into it are thus defiled, however good and salutary they may be before they are put in-i.e., the heart

THE WORLD AND ALL THINGS THEREIN MUST of man is to blame, not what nature gives it.

PERISH.

So Matthew xv. 11:

"Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but

The gate of death is not shut to the heaven nor earth, or deep waters of the ocean, but stands that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." wide with a vast opening.

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WHY DO THE GODS NOT STRIKE THE WICKED?

But if Jupiter and the other gods shake the heavenly temples with terrific peals, hurling their fire on whomsoever they will, why do they not launch it against those who are overwhelmed with abominable crimes, that, transfixed, they may breathe forth flames, an impressive warning to mortals? Why rather is the innocent, unconscious of evil, struck down by the bolt, and overtaken suddenly by the tempest and the lightning?

THUNDER.

MANILIUS.

MANILIUS is the author of an astrological poem,

Besides, what mind is unawed, what limbs do in five books, entitled "Astronomica." We know

nothing of his personal history, nor even at what so many wars and variety of labors, even durperiod he lived. Some think that he is the Mani-ing peace, though Fortune searches carefully for lius described by Pliny (H. N. x. 2, 1); by others honor, she finds it scarcely anywhere. But what he is thought to be Manilius Antiochus, styled a mass of wickedness in all times, and on earth "Astrologiæ Conditorem," who was brought to what a load of envy, for which we can find no Rome as a slave along with Publius Syrus and excuse! Staberius Eros (Pl. H. N. xxxv. 58, 1); and there are many other suppositions, but the question cannot now be decided.

THE GOOD RESULTING TO MAN FROM A NECES-
SITOUS LIFE.

It is their life of labor that has inspired the wretched with genius, and it is their bad fortune that has forced man to exertion by depressing him.

EXPERIENCE.

For experience always sows the seeds of one thing after another.

INVENTIVE NATURE.

An inventive nature gets the better of every difficulty by trial.

THE SUBJECT.

Satisfied to instruct, it refuses every ornament.

TIME.

Time stands with impartial law.

THE MIXTURE OF GOOD AND BAD. There is a warp of evil woven into the woof of good, and tears follow close on success: for does Fortune keep an even tenor to all, so tangled in the yarn, and so mingled does she flow; never continuing constant; men lose confidence in her from turning all things upside down.

THE UNLIKENESS OF ONE YEAR TO ANOTHER.

Years do not always agree with years, nor months with months, and even one day will be Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." in search of itself, and one hour is not similar to

So Ecclesiastes ix. 13:

PRAYER FOR LONG LIFE.

May fortune grant success to my mighty enterprise, and may I reach a lengthened old age in the enjoyment of ease, that I may be able to unfold to view such a mass of heavenly objects, and describe great and small with equal precision.

THE FIXED LAWS OF NATURE.

All things submit to fixed laws.

VICISSITUDES OF HUMAN AFFAIRS.

Everything that is created is changed by the laws of man; the earth does not know itself in the revolution of years; even the races of man assume various forms in the course of ages.

POWER OF THE MIND.

No barriers, no masses of matter however enormous, can withstand the powers of the mind; the remotest corners yield to them; all things succumb, the very heaven itself, is laid open.

THE HOURS.

The hours fly along in a circle.

THE HEAVEN.

We know not how to trust to the sky.

MAN AN EMANATION FROM THE DEITY.

Who can know heaven except by its gifts? and who can find out God, unless the man who is himself an emanation from God?

REASON.

For reason is neither deceived nor ever deceives.

"NOT A RIGHTEOUS MAN, NO, not one." Through so many ages, so many eventful years,

another.

THE COVETOUS.

Every one is the poorer in proportion as he has more wants, and counts not what he has, but wishes only what he has not.

THE END OF OUR LIFE IS LINKED TO THE BEGIN-
NING.

We begin to die at the moment we are born, and the end is linked to the beginning.

in the "Holy Dying" (c. iii. s. 1):—
This line and idea have been made use of by Jeremy Taylor

"When man fell, then he began to die: the same day (so said God, and that must needs be true); and therefore it must mean, that upon that very day he fell into an evil and dangerous condition, a state of change and affliction, and then death began-that is, the man began to die by a natural diminution and aptness to disease and misery."

Pope also ("Essay on Man," Ep. ii. 1. 133) says somewhat to the same effect:

"As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath,
Receives the lurking principle of death,

The young disease, that must subdue at length,
Grows with his growth and strengthens with his strength."
And Young ("Night Thoughts," Night V. 1. 717):—
"While man is growing, life is in decrease,
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb;
Our birth is nothing but our death begun.

FATE.

His fate must be borne by every one.

DEATH NOT TO BE BOUGHT OFF BY RICHES..

Man's fate is not to be bought off by immensity of riches, but fortune carries off the dead from the proud palace, raising the pile and the tomb for the highest of the earth.

LABO

Labor even is pleasant.

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BORN A.D. 43-DIED ABOUT A.D. 104.

SOME GOOD, SOME BAD.

Some are good, some are middling, the greater part are bad.

GLORY TOO LATE.

Glory comes too late when paid only to our ashes.

DISLIKE WITHOUT A JUST REASON.

I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; I can only say this, I do not love thee.

Dr. Fell, Dean of Christ Church, afterwards Bishop of Or ford, who died in 1686, agreed to cancel a decree of expulsion against Tom Brown, if that humorist could translate on the spot Martial's epigram, and which he did to the Dean's sur prise, in the following well-known lines:—

"I do not love thee, Doctor Fell,

The reason why I cannot tell;

But this I'm sure I know full well,

I do not love thee, Doctor Fell."

This is the same idea that appears in Seneca (Thyest. 261):

"I am hurried on by love, I know not how; but I am hur ried on."

FORCED TEARS.

mourner who mourns without a witness.

Shakespeare ("Twelfth Night," act ii. sc. 4) says:"She never told her love,

Gellia does not weep for her deceased father, M. VALERIUS MARTIALIS, a celebrated epigra- when she is alone; but if any one be there, the matist, born at Bilbilis in Spain A.D. 43, came to tears start obedient from her eyes. He mourn Rome in the reign of Nero, A.D. 66, where he re-not, Gellia, who seeks to be praised; he is the tru sided for thirty-five years, returning again to the place of his birth A.D. 100, in the third year of the reign of Trajan. He was a special favorite of the emperors Titus and Domitian, his works being eagerly sought for not only in the city, but also in Gaul, Germany, Britain, Getica, and the stormy regions of the north. These are the chief particulars that are known respecting him. The extant works of Martial are a collection of short poems, entitled Epigrammata, upwards of 1500 in number, divided into fourteen books. He was a base flatterer, and is a most indecent writer.

WIT IS QUICK IN STRAITS.

How quick a wit is found in sudden chances!

INNOCENT JOKES.

The censorship may allow innocent jokes.

HOW FAME IS TO BE ACQUIRED.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame: give me the man who, living, makes a

name.

A PRETTY MAN.

Thou wishest, Cotta, to appear a pretty and a great man at the same time; but he who is a pretty man is a very little man.

JOYS ABIDE NOT.

But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek; she pin'd in thought."

A RICH SOIL.

Steers are unwilling to carry their yoke int barren fields: a rich soil fatigues, but then the labor bestowed on it is rewarded.

PERFUME.

He smells not well whose smell is all perfume

A FRIEND WHO IS HIMSELF IN SERVICE.

It is useless, believe me, to hope for service from a friend, who is himself in service. Let him bes free man, who wishes to be my master.

LAUGH AND BE WISE.

Be merry if you are wise.

A-I OF BEGGARS.

So poor, that my friend Publius does not surpas him in tattered garments, nor Codrus himself, the prince of beggars.

REMEMBER DEATH.

Prepare the couches; call for wine; crown thy self with roses; perfume thyself with odors; the

Cares and linked chains of trouble await thee, god himself bids thee remember death. joys abide not, but are ever on the wing.

TO-MORROW.

'Tis not, believe me, the act of a wise man to say "I will live." To-morrow's life is too late; live to-day.

AWAY WITH DELAY.

Come, away with this delay; how much longer are we to await your decision? While thus you hesitate what to be, you will be unfit to be any thing at all.

TO KILL ONE'S SELF TO ESCAPE DEATH.
This I ask, whether it is not the veriest mad-
ness to kill thyself that thou mayest escape death.
Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 567, M.) :—

"My dearest, who is not the hireling of death, who, for the sake of life, is about to die?"

LABOR EXPENDED ON TRIFLES.

A HYPOCRITE.

Thou mayest deceive others by thy words and smiling countenance; to me thou wilt be henceforth an unmasked deceiver.

ENVY.

How shall I say it happens that living writers receive no honor in their own time, and are seldom It is disgraceful to a poet to make one's amuse-read by their contemporaries? Doubtless, Regument difficult; and labor expended on trifles is lus, this is the characteristic of envy, that it rejects the moderns for the ancients.

childish.

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A beau is one who arranges his curled locks with nicest care, who ever smells of balm and cinnamon; who repeats with humming lips the songs of the Nile and Cadiz; who tosses his sleek arms in various attitudes; who idles away from morn to even his whole time, where ladies meet, ever whispering some nothing in some fair one's ear; who reads little billets-doux from this one and that, scribbling in return; who shrinks from rubbing against the coarse dress of a neighbor's guest; who knows who flirts with whom, and flutters from feast to feast; who can recount most accurately the pedigree of the race-horse "Hirpinus." What do you tell me? is this a beau? Then a beau, Cotilus, is a very trifling thing.

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TIME PLACED TO OUR ACCOUNT.

Now neither of us lives for himself, but, alas! sees the best of his days flee from him and vanish; days which are ever being lost to us, and are set down to our account.

THE UNHAPPY.

I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please.

GIFTS.

What is bestowed on our friends is beyond the reach of fortune; the riches that thou hast given away are the only riches that thou really possessest.

BRAGGING.

Believe me, Posthumus, gifts, however great, lose their value when the donor boasts of them.

TO-MORROW.

To-morrow thou wilt live, didst thou say, Posthumus? to-day is too late: he is the wise man who lived yesterday.

GREAT GIFTS.

Whoever makes great presents, wishes great presents to be made to him in return.

THE RICH.

Riches are now given to none but the rich,

LOVE.

That thou mayest be loved, love.

THINGS DOTED ON.

Short is the life of those who possess great accomplishments, and seldom do they reach a

good old age. Whatever thou lovest, pray that thou mayest not set too high a value on it.

NO SMELL.

I would rather smell of nothing than of scents.

IMMORTAL WRITINGS.

There is a well known epigram by Leigh Hunt, which is described as "from the French of Tabouret," and which runs thus:

"Abel fain would marry Mabel;

Well, it's very wise of Abel,

But Mabel won't at all have Abel;
Well, it's wiser still of Mabel."

Tabouret had evidently been inspired by Martial.

PRESENTED BY ITS AUTHOR.

Something else is required to give immortality THE VALUE OF A BOOK ENHANCED to writings. A book that is destined to live must have genius.

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BY BEING

Your coming from the author will give value to the present. It makes a great difference, believe me, whether a draught be drawn from the fountain-head or from the stagnant waters of a sluggish pool.

WRITINGS IMPROVED BY TIME.

As for writings, thieves cannot destroy them, and they are improved by time; they are the only monuments that are proof against death.

A MORALIST.

My every page is an essay on man.

A GOOD MAN.

A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past existence is to live twice.

TO SATIRIZE VICES, NOT INDIVIDUALS. It has been my constant aim in all my writings to lash vice, but to spare persons.

Du Lorens (Sat. vii. 147) says somewhat to the same effect: "I do not attack fools, but folly."

It is said that this Latin quotation was once repeated to Donne, "Thunder against vices, but spare the vicious. " "What," said he, "condemn cards, and pardon the sharper!" So Isidorus says:

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WHAT MAKES LIFE HAPPY.

The things that make life happy, dearest Martian, are these: wealth, not gained by the sweat of our brow, but by inheritance; lands that make a good return; a fireside always comfortable; no need of lawyers; no dress for business; a mind at ease; a vigorous frame; a healthy constitution; prudence without cunning; friends equal both in years and fame; pleasant social intercourse; a table without pretence; nights not drunken, but free from care; a bed not without connubial pleasures; sleep which makes the darkness seem short; to be what you are, and no wish for change; and neither to fear death nor seek it. So Milton ("Paradise Lost," xi. 553) says:

"Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou lov'st, Love well; how long or short permit to Heaven." PLEASANTRY WITHOUT BITTERNESS.

There shall be pleasantry without bitterness;

If there be patrons like Mæcenas, there will not, there shall be no licence of speech that will bring Flaccus, be wanting poets like Virgil.

LOVE AND HATE.

Thou wishest to marry Priscus: I am not surprised, Paula: thou art wise. Priscus does not wish to marry thee, and he is wise.

repentance on the morrow, and nothing said that we would wish unsaid.

THE BALD PRETENDING TO HAVE HAIR.

There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.

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