Who lived one hundred Years, and died on her Birth
ANCIENT dame, how wide and vast,
To a race like ours appears,
Rounded to an orb at last,
All thy multitude of years!
We, the herd of human kind,
Frailer and of feebler pow'rs;
We, to narrow bounds confin'd,
Soon exhaust the sum of ours.
Death's delicious banquet-we
Perish even from the womb,
Swifter than a shadow flee,
Nourish'd but to feed the tomb.
Seeds of merciless disease
Lurk in all that we enjoy ; Some, that waste us by degrees, Some, that suddenly destroy.
And if life o'erleap the bourn
Common to the sons of men;
What remains, but that we mourn,
Dream, and doat, and drivél then?
Fast as moons can wax and wane,
Sorrow comes; and while we groan,
Pant with anguish and complain,
Half our years are fled and gone.
If a few, (to few 'tis giv'n)
Ling'ring on this earthly stage, Creep, and halt with steps unev'n, To the period of an age.
Wherefore live they, but to see
Cunning, arrogance, and force,
Sights lamented much by thee,
Holding their accustom'd course!
Oft was seen, in ages past,
All that we with wonder view;
Often shall be to the last;
Earth produces nothing new.
CATO Cum Titio lis et vexatio longa
Sunt de vicini proprietate soli.
Protinus ingentes animos in jurgia sumunt,
Utraque vincendi pars studiosa nimis.
Lis tumet in schedulas, et jam verbosior, et jam
Nec verbum quodvis asse minoris emunt,
Prætereunt menses, et terminus alter et alter;
Quisque novos sumptus, alter et alter, habent. Elle querens, hic respondens pendente vocatur Lite; sed ad finem litis uterque querens.
THE CAUSE WON.
Two neighbours furiously dispute;
A field-the subject of the suit.
Trivial the spot, yet such the rage
With which the combatants engage,
"Twere hard to tell, who covets most
The prize at whatsoever cost.
The pleadings swell. Words still suffice:
No single word but has its price.
No term but yields some fair pretence
For novel and increas'd expense.
Defendant thus becomes a name,
Which he that bore it may disclaim;
Since both, in one description blended,
Are plaintiff's—when the suit is ended.
FINE sub Aprilis Bombyx excluditur ovo
Reptilis exiguo corpore vermiculus,
Frondibus hic mori, volvox dum fiat adultus,
Gnaviter incumbens, dum satietur, edit.
Crescendo ad justum cum jam maturuit ævum,
Incipit artifici stamine textor opus :
Filaque condensans filis, orbem implicat orbi,
Et sensim in gyris conditus ipse latet.
Inque cadi teretem forman se colligit, unde
Egrediens pennas papilionis habet;
Fitque parens tandem, fœtumque reponit in ovis;
Hoc demum extremo munere functus obit.
Quotquot in hac nostra spirant animalia terra
Nulli est vel brévior vita, vel utilior.
THE SILK WORM.
THE beams of April, ere it goes,
A worm, scarce visible, disclose;
All winter long content to dwell
The tenant of his native shell.
The same prolific scason gives
The sustenance by which he lives,
The mulb'rry leaf, a simple store,
That serves him-till he needs no more!
For, his dimensions once complete,
Thenceforth none ever sees him eat;
Though, till his growing time be past,
Scarce ever is he seen to fast.
That hour arriv'd, his work begins.
He spins and weaves, and weaves and spins ;
Till circle upon circle wound
Careless around him and around,
Conceals him with a veil, though slight,
Impervious to the keenest sight.
Thus self-enclos'd, as in a cask,
At length he finishes his task :
And, though a worm, when he was lost,
Or caterpillar at the most,
When next we see him, wings he wears,.
And in papilio-pomp appears;
Becomes oviparous, supplies
With future worms and future flies,
The next ensuing year;-and dies!
Well were it for the world, if all,
Who creep about this earthly ball,
Though shorter-liv'd than most he be,
Were useful in their kind as he.
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