Let reverence of thyfelf thy thoughts control, And guard the facred temple of thy foul.
Let juftice o'er thy word and deed prefide, And reafon ev'n thy meanest actions guide: For know that death is man's appointed doom, Know that the day of great account will come, When thy past life shall strictly be survey'd, Each word, each deed, be in the balance laid, And all the good and all the ill moft justly be repaid. For wealth, the perishing, uncertain good, Ebbing and flowing like the fickle flood, That knows no fure, no fix'd abiding-place, But wandering loves from hand to hand to pafs; Revolve the getter's joy and lofer's pain, And think if it be worth thy while to gain. Of all thofe forrows that attend mankind, With patience bear the lot to thee assign'd; Nor think it chance, nor murmur at the load; For know what man calls Fortune is from God, In what thou may'ft, from wifdom feek relief, And let her healing hand affwage thy grief; Yet ftill whate'er the righteous doom ordains, What caufe foever multiplies thy pains, Let not those pains as ills be understood; For God delights not to afflict the good.
The reasoning art, to various ends apply'd, Is oft a fure, but oft an erring guide. Thy judgment therefore found and cool preferve, Nor lightly from thy refolution swerve;
The dazzling pomp of words does oft deceive, And fweet perfuafion wins the easy to believe.
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When fools and lyars labour to perfuade, Be dumb, and let the babblers vainly plead.
This above all, this precept chiefly learn, This nearly does, and first, thyself concern ; Let not example, let no foothing tongue, Prevail upon thee with a Syren's fong, To do thy foul's immortal effence wrong. Of good and ill by words or deeds expreft, Choose for thyfelf, and always choose the best. Let wary thought each enterprize forerun, And ponder on thy task before begun, Left folly fhould the wretched work deface, And mock thy fruitless labours with difgrace.
Fools huddle on, and always are in hafte,
A&t without thought, and thoughtless words they waste. But thou, in all thou doft, with early cares Strive to prevent at firft a fate like theirs; That forrow on the end may never wait, Nor fharp repentance make thee wife too late.
Beware thy meddling hand in aught to try, That does beyond thy reach of knowledge lie; But feek to know, and bend thy ferious thought To fearch the profitable knowledge out. So joys on joys for ever fhall increase, Wisdom fhall crown thy labours, and fhall blefs Thy life with pleasure, and thy end with peace. Nor let the body want its part, but share A juft proportion of thy tender care: For health and welfare prudently provide, And let its lawful wants be all fupplyd.
Let fober draughts refresh, and wholefome fare Decaying nature's wafted force repair; And sprightly exercise the duller fpirits chear. In all things ftill which to this care belong, Observe this rule, to guard thy foul from wrong. By virtuous ufe thy life and manners frame, Manly and fimply pure, and free from blame. Provoke not envy's deadly rage, but fly The glancing curfe of her malicious eye. Seek not in needlefs luxury to waste
Thy wealth and substance with a spendthrift's hafte. Yet flying these, be watchful, lest thy inind, Prone to extremes, an equal danger find, And be to fordid avarice inclin'd.
Distant alike from each, to neither lean, But ever keep the happy Golden Mean.
Be careful ftill to guard thy foul from wrong, And let thy thought prevent thy hand and tongue. Let not the stealing God of Sleep furprize,
Nor creep in flumbers on thy weary eyes, Ere every action of the former day Strictly thou doft and righteously furvey.
With reverence at thy own tribunal stand,
And anfwer justly to thy own demand.
Where have I been? In what have I trangrefs'd? 115 What good or ill has this day's life exprefs'd?
Where have I fail'd in what I ought to do?
In what to God, to man, or to myself I owe? Inquire fevere what-e'er from first to last,
From morning's dawn,till evening's gloom,has paft. 120
If evil were thy deeds, repenting mourn, And let thy foul with ftrong remorse be torn. If good, the good with peace of mind repay, And to thy fecret felf with pleasure say,
Rejoice, my heart, for all went well to-day.
Thefe thoughts, and chiefly these thy mind fhould
Employ thy ftudy, and engage thy love.
These are the rules which will to Virtue lead, And teach thy feet her heavenly paths to tread. This by his name I fwear, whofe facred lore First to mankind explain'd the myftic Four, Source of eternal nature and almighty power.
In all thou doft firft let thy prayers afcend, And to thy gods thy labours firft commend: From them implore fuccefs, and hope a profperous end.. So fhall thy abler mind be taught to foar, And wifdom in her fecret ways explore; To range through heaven above and earth below, Immortal gods and mortal men to know.
So fhalt thou learn what power does all control, What bounds the parts, and what unites the whole: And rightly judge, in all this wondrous frame, How univerfal Nature is the fame;
So fhalt thou ne'er thy vain affections place
On hopes of what shall never come to pass.
Man, wretched inan, thou shalt be taught to know, Who bears within himfelf the inborn cause of woe. Unhappy race! that never yet could tell,
How near their good and happiness they dwell.
Depriv'd of fenfe, they neither hear nor fee; Fetter'd in vice, they feek not to be free, But ftupid, to their own fad fate agree:
Like ponderous rolling-ftones, opprefs'd with ill, The weight that loads them makes them roll on ftill, Bereft of choice and freedom of the will; For native ftrife in every bofom reigns, And fecretly an impious war maintains : Provoke not this, but let the combat ceafe, And every yielding paffion fue for peace.
Would't thou, great Jove,thou father of mankind, Reveal the Dæmon for that task affign'd,
The wretched race an end of woes would find.
And yet be bold, O man, divine thou art,
And of the gods celeftial effence part. Nor facred nature is from thee conceal'd, But to thy race her myftic rules reveal'd. Thefe if to know thou happily attain,
Soon shalt thou perfect be in all that I ordain. Thy wounded foul to health thou shalt restore, And free from every pain the felt before.
Abftain, I warn, from meats unclean and foul,
So keep thy body pure, fo free thy foul; So rightly judge; thy reafon fo maintain; Reafon which heaven did for thy guide ordain, Let that beft reafon ever hold the rein.
Then if this mortal body thou forfake, And thy glad flight to the pure æther take, Among the gods exalted fhalt thou shine, Immortal, incorruptible, divine: The tyrant death fecurely fhalt thou brave, And fcorn the dark dominion of the grave. B 4
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