Thee, Brutus! Rome's first martyr I must name; The Curtii bravely div'd the gulf of flame ; Attilius sacrific'd himself, to save

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That faith which to his barb'rous foes he gave:
With the two Scipios did thy uncle fall.
Rather than fly from conqu’ring Hannibal :
The great Marcellus (who restored Rome)
His greatest foes with honour did intomb.
Their lives how many of our legions threw
Into the breach? 'whence no return they knew.
Must then the wise, the old, the learned, fear
What not the rude, the young, th' unlearn'd forbear?
Satiety from all things else doth come,
Then life must to itself grow wearisome,
Those trifles wherein children take delight
Grow nauseous to the young man's appetite;
And from those gaieties our youth requires
To exercise their minds, our Age retires;
And when the last delights of Age shall die,
Life in itself will find satiety.

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Now you, my friends, my sense of death shall hear,
Which I can well describe, for he stands near.
Your father, Lælius, and your's, Scipio,
My friends, and men of honour, I did know :
As certainly as we must die, they live
That life which justly may that name receive :
Till from these prisons of our flesh releas'd,
Our souls with heavy burdens lie oppress'd ›

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Which part of man from heaven falling down,
Earth, in her low abyss, doth hide and drown,
A place so dark to the celestial light
And pure eternal fire's quite opposite.
The gods thro' human bodies did disperse
An heav'nly soul to guide this universe,
That man, when he of heav'nly bodies saw
The order, might from thence a pattern draw:
Nor this to me did my own dictates show,
But to the old philosophers I owe.

I heard Pythagoras, and those who came

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With him, and from our country took their name, Who never doubted but the beams divine,

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Deriv'd from gods, in mortal breasts did shine. 140
Nor from my knowledge did the Ancients hide
What Socrates declar'd the hour he dy'd;
He th' immortality of souls proclaim'd,
(Whom th' oracle of men the wisest nam’d.)
Why should we doubt of that whereof our sense
Finds demonstration from experience?
Our minds are here, and there, below, above;
Nothing that's mortal can so swiftly move.
Our thoughts to future things their flight direct,
And in an instant all that's past collect.
Reason, remembrance, wit, inventive art,
No nature but immortal can impart.
Man's soul in a perpetual motion flows,

And to no outward cause that motion owes ;

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And therefore that no end can overtake,

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Because our minds cannot themselves forsake:
And since the matter of our soul is pure
And simple, which no mixture can endure
Of parts which not among themselves agree,
Therefore it never can divided be;
And Nature shows (without philosophy)
What cannot be divided cannot die.
We ev'n in early infancy discern

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Knowledge is born with babes before they learn; Ere they can speak they find so many ways 165 To serve their turn, and see more arts than days : Before their thoughts they plainly can express ; The words and things they know are numberless, Which Nature only and no art could find, But what she taught before she call'd to mind. 170 These to his sons (as Xenophon records) Of the great Cyrus were the dying words: "Fear not when I depart; (nor therefore mourn) "I shall be now here, or to nothing turn: "That soul which gave me life was seen by none, "Yet by the actions it design'd was known; 175 "And tho' its flight no mortal eye shall see, "Yet know, for ever it the same shall be. "That soul which can immortal glory give, "To her own virtues must for ever live. "Can you believe that man's all-knowing mind "Can to a mortal body be confin'd ?

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"Tho' a foul foolish prison her immure

"On earth, she (when escap'd) is wise and pure. "Man's body, when dissolv'd, is but the same 185 "With beasts, and must return from whence it came; But whence into our bodies reason flows,

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"None sees it when it comes, or where it goes. "Nothing resembles death so much as sleep, 189 "Yet then our minds themselves from slumber keep. "When from their fleshly bondage they are free, "Then what divine and future things they see! "Which makes it most apparent whence they are, "And what they shall hereafter be declare." This noble speech the dying Cyrus made. Me, Scipio, shall no argument persuade Thy grandsire, and his brother, to whom Fame Gave, from two conquer'd parts o' th' world, their Northy great grandsire, nor thy father Paul, [name, Who fell at Cannæ against Hannibal ; Nor I (for 'tis permitted to the ag'd To boast their actions) had so oft engag'd In battles, and in pleadings, had we thought That only Fame our virtuous actions bought: 'Twere better in soft pleasure and repose Ingloriously our peaceful eyes to close: Some high assurance hath possess'd my mind, After my death an happier life to find, Unless our souls from the immortals came, What end have we to seek immortal fame ?

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All virtuous spirits some such hope attends,
Therefore the wise his days with pleasure ends.
The foolish and short-sighted die with fear

That they go no where, or they know not where.
The wise and virtuous soul, with clearer eyes, 215
Before she parts some happy port descries.

My friends, your fathers I shall surely see;
Nor only those I lov'd, or who lov’d me ;
But such as before ours did end their days,
Of whom we hear, and read, and write their praise.
This I believe; for were I on ny way,
None should persuade me to return or stay.
Should some god tell me that I should be born
And cry again, his offer I would scorn;

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Asham'd, when I have ended well my race, 225
To be led back to my first starting-place.
And since with life we are more griev'd than joy'd,
We should be either satisfy'd or cloy'd.

Yet will I not my length of days deplore,

As many wise and learn'd have done before; 230
Nor can I think such life in vain is lent,
Which for our country and our friends is spent.
Hence from an inn, not from my home, I pass,
Since Nature meant us here no dwelling-place.
Happy when I, from this turmoil set free,
That peaceful and divine assembly see;
Not only those I nam'd I there shall greet,
But my own gallant virtuous Cato meet.

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