Nec mora, nec requies; fed adhuc geminantur eundo,
Et quæque hora novos ufque addit & ufque dolores.
Dum tandem longo curarum pondere cani,
Otia venantes nequicquam, effætaque membra
Jam fracti, laceræ vitium commune fene&tæ
Ploramus, miroque volubilis ordine vitæ
Ad ftadium infantile rotante revertimur ævo.
Difcimus hinc quid Vita hominum eft ; hesterna recentes
Protulit ex utero nudos, nudofque fepulcro
Craftina Lux 'referet; nempe hæc ad munera natos,
Luctu animam vexare, & tædia ferre, Morique.
Quid varias memorem clades, quibus Ille laborat, Quas timet Hic, capiti mifero jam jamque minantes? Quid deformem Urfam, rabidumque per arva Leonem Graffantem, fparfas pecudes, cæfumque magiftrum: Obfcuras nemorum ambages, fluviofque profundos, Pendentefque immane minaci vertice rupes? Quid Peftem indomitam, quæ late incedit aperto Marte furens, medioque die fpatiata per auras Diffundit mortem populis: Tacitamve Sagittam, Obscurâ quæ nocte levi fecat æthera lapfu,
Atra venena trahens, pallentesque inficit umbras.
And fadly finding each progreffive Hour
Heighten their Number, and augment their Pow'r:
'Till by one countess Sum of Woes oppreft,
Hoary with Cares, and Ignorant of Reft,
We find the vital Springs relax'd and worn:
Compell'd our common Impotence to mourn;
Thus, thro' the Round of Age, to Childhood We return;}
Reflecting find, that naked from the Womb
We yesterday came forth; that in the Tomb
Naked again We muft To-morrow lye,
Born to lament, to labor, and to dye.
Pafs We the Ills, which each Man feels or dreads,
The Weight or fall'n, or hanging o'er our Heads;
The Bear, the Lyon, Terrors of the Plain,
The Sheepfold scatter'd, and the Shepherd flain;
The frequent Errors of the pathless Wood,
The giddy Precipice, and the dang’rous Flood:
The noifome Peft'lence, that in open War
Terrible, marches thro' the Mid-day Air,
And scatters Death; the Arrow that by Night
Cuts the dank Mift, and fatal wings it's Flight;
Sæpe unà denfæque nives imbrefque coacti
Se glomerant, altifque à montibus agmine facto,
Præcipiti lætas populantur gurgite valles.
Sæpe etiam nitidis vermes genus omne voraces
In campis dominantur, & occupat undique plenas
Hofpes edax fruges; vanas incufat ariftas
Agricola, atque inopi marcefcit languidus anno.
Quid lentos referam morbos, acrefque dolores,
Qui carpunt fragiles repetitis ictibus artus?
Sanguineo ut curfu laceratos Calculus afper
Excruciat renes! ut aquofo frigidus humor
It capite, abfumens cunctanti tabe vigorem,
Et vitæ fontem paulatim exhaurit eundo!
Quas Febris calor indomitus, quas fæva Podagra
Exercet furias! longoque ut debilis ævo
Obruitur Natura; atque omnibus atra Senectus
Una malis gravior, claudo pede languida repit:
Dum gemitum affiduum & longos finire dolores
Mors venerata negat; lectoque abfcedit acerbo
Surda Quies, vanos mifereri nescia plan&us.
Nequicquam egregia Virgo pulcherrima formæ Languenti dare blanda Seni folatia quærit;
The billowing Snow, and Violence of the Show'r,
That from the Hills difperfe their dreadful Store,
And o'er the Vales collected Ruin pour;
The Worm that gnaws the ripening Fruit, fad Guest,
Canker or Locuft hurtful to infeft
The Blade; while Husks elude the Tiller's Care,
And Eminence of Want diftinguishes the Year.
Pass we the flow Disease, and fubtil Pain,
Which our weak Frame is deftin'd to sustain;
The cruel Stone, with congregated War
Tearing his bloody Way; the cold Catarrh,
With frequent Impulse, and continu'd Strife,
Weak'ning the wafted Seats of irksome Life;
The Gout's fierce Rack, the burning Feaver's Rage,
The fad Experience of Decay; and Age,
Her felf the foreft Ill; while Death, and Eafe,
Oft and in vain invok'd, or to appease,
Or end the Grief, with hafty Wings recede
From the vext Patient, and the fickly Bed.
Nought shall it profit, that the charming Fair, Angelic, fofteft Work of Heav'n, draws near
Cum tremula incerto quatitur, jam non fua, motu
Dextera; nec domini votis refpondet, amoris
Impar officiis, placidi neque conscia tactûs.
Nil faciet pulfata chelys, nil dulcia quondam
Fila lyræ; nec molle melos, nec læta juvabit
Fabula, cum celeri jam volvier agmine fanguis
Deftitit, auriculæque ingrato frigore torpent.
Mons viridi hic furgit clivo, Vallifque nitentem
Ridet picta finum, quem lucidus alluit amnis:
Illic cæruleos fluctus canentia volvunt
Æquora, fplendidulæque micant in littore testæ:
Sed varios fruftra mifcet Natura colores,
Cum languent hebetatæ acies, oculofque natantes
Atra premit nubes. Abeunti nocte refulget
Alma dies: fpiffi defcendunt largius imbres,
Seque iterum fcindunt nebulæ & diffunditur æther.
At Vetulum extincto palantem lumine nullæ
Jam poterunt recreare Vices; non aurea Solis
Lampas, non Lunæ nitor, & quæ plurima cœlo
Stellula fcintillat, miferum folantur; iniqua
Nox cingit, triftefque urgent fine fine tenebræ.
En! ubi fuccumbit fævæ miseranda Senectæ Victima! languentes oculos, dextramque trementem
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