DESPOTISM.

Thyest. 214.

ATR. Ubicunque tantum honesta dominanti licent,
Precario regnatur. SAT. Ubi non est pudor,
Nec cura juris, sanctitas, pietas, fides:

Instabile regnum est. ATR. Sanctitas, pietas, fides,
Privata bona sunt; qua juvat, reges eant.

ATR. Wherever a ruler is subject to the law, his power is of precarious tenure. SAT. Nay, rather where neither modesty nor respect for the law or gods, piety nor faith, hold sway, there power is unstable. ATR. My opinion is, that respect for the gods, piety, and faith are merely virtues of men in private stations. Let kings be unshackled in their authority.

A BAD BROTHER NOT TO BE INJURED.

Thyest. 219.

Nefas nocere vel malo fratri puta.

Consider it impious to injure even a bad brother.

GREAT COUNSELS BETRAYED BY THE COUNTENANCE.

Thyest. 332.

Magna nolentem quoque

Consilia produnt.

Great counsels betray even the man who is unwilling that his plans should be discovered.

RETIREMENT TO BE PREFERRED.

Thyest. 388.

Rex est, qui metuit nihil.

Rex est, qui cupiet nihil.

Hoc regnum sibi quisque dat.

Stet, quicunque volet, potens
Aulæ culmine lubrico:
Me dulcis saturet quies;

Obscuro positus loco,

Leni perfruar otio.

He is a king who is subject to neither fears nor desires. Every one can confer this on himself. Let whosoever chooses walk along the slippery paths of the court, I prefer peaceful repose, and, resigned to the obscurity of an humble life, shall enjoy the pleasures of retirement.

THE GIVER TO BE LOOKED AT.
Thyest. 416.

Cum quod datur spectabis, et dantem adspice!
you look at what is given, look also at the giver.

While

THE POOR ENJOY A SECURE REPAST.

Thyest. 450.

O quantum bonum est,
Obstare nulli, capere securas dapes

Humi jacentem! Scelera non intrant casas,
Tutusque mensâ capitur angustâ cibus;
Venenum in auro bibitur. Expertus loquor :
Malam bonæ præferre fortunam licet.

What pleasure it is to stand in the way of no one, to be able to enjoy a secure repast! Crimes do not enter into the cottages of the poor; we may eat our food with safety on an humble table; poison is quaffed from golden cups. I speak from experience: an obscure life is preferable to one spent in a high station.

CAUTION.
Thyest. 487.

Serum est cavendi tempus in mediis malis.

It is too late to be on our guard when we are in the midst of misfortunes.

TO-MORROW.
Thyest. 619.

Nemo tam divos habuit faventes,
Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri.

Nobody has ever found the gods so much his friend that he can promise himself another day.

LOVE OF LIFE.
Thyest. 882.

Vitæ est avidus, quisquis non vult,

Mundo secum moriente, mori.

That man must be enamoured of life who is not willing to die when the world reaches its last day.

THE MISERABLE.

Thyest. 938.

Proprium hoc miseros sequitur vitium,
Nunquam rebus credere lætis.

Redeat felix Fortuna licet,

Tamen afflictos gaudere piget.

This is the peculiarity of the wretched that they can never believe that happiness will last. Even though good fortune returns, yet they rejoice in fear and trembling.

PASSIONS ENCOURAGED BY YIELDING.
Hipp. 134.

Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum,
Sero recusat ferre, quod subiit, jugum.
Who at the first

Resists love's charge, comes off a victor still;
But he who soothes and nurses the sweet ill,
Too late, alas! the yoke denies to bear
Himself assumed.

FIRST STEP FROM SIN.
Hipp. 140.

Honesta primum est velle, nec labi viâ;
Pudor est secundus, nosse peccandi modum.
"Tis the first step from sin, to have the will
T'oppose; next shame to know a mean in ill.

PANGS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE ARE NEVER AT REST.
Hipp. 163.

Quid pœna præsens, consciæ noctis pavor,
Animusque culpâ plenus et semet timens ?
Scelus aliqua tutum, nulla securum tulit.

What pain

Is't of a guilty conscience to sustain
The waking horror! and a soul o'erlaid
With its own crimes, and of itself afraid!
Some safely may, none e'er secure did sin.

THE GREAT IN POWER.
Hipp. 215.

Quod non potest, vult posse, qui nimium potest.
Above their powers the great in power aspire,
Would by their wills impossibles acquire.

A REMEDY.
Hipp. 249.

Pars sanitatis velle sanari fuit.

'Tis to the mind

Some part of cure to be for cure inclined.

MODES OF DEATH.

Hipp. 475.

Quam varia leti genera mortalem trahunt
Carpuntque turbam, pontus, et ferrum, et doli !
Sed fata credas deesse: sic atram Styga
Jam petimus ultro.

Alas! how many kinds of death there be
Attending man! seas, sword, and treachery.
Say we were subject to no laws of fate,
Yet of ourselves we haste to our lives' date,
To Styx' dark shades.

Honesta quædam scelera successus facit.
Some crimes have been made honest by success.

LIGHT GRIEFS.
Hipp. 607.

Curæ leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent.
Small griefs can speak, great render us dumb.

CRIME.
Hipp. 721.

Scelere velandum est scelus.

Mischief with mischief must be veil'd; we see 't. "Tis safest, dangers that are fear'd, to meet.

BEAUTY.
Hipp. 761.

Anceps forma bonum mortalibus,
Exigui donum breve temporis,
Ut velox celeri pede laberis !
Non sic prata novo vere decentia

Estatis calidæ despoliat vapor;
Sævit solstitio cum medius dies,
Et noctes brevibus præcipitat rotis
(Languescunt folio lilia pallido,
Et gratæ capiti deficiunt rosa),
Ut fulgor, teneris qui radiat genis,
Momento rapitur, nullaque non dies
Formosi spolium corporis abstulit.
Res est forma fugax: quis sapiens bono
Confidat fragili? Dum licet, utere.
Tempus te tacitum subruet, horaque
Semper præterita deterior subit.

Beauty, which few a good can style,
Thou gift enjoy'd but a short while,
How swiftly dost thou fly away!
Not so the sun's meridian ray

Spoils the fresh meadows of the green

Which the late spring had clothed them in,
When earth beneath the solstice fries,
And the short night before him flies.
Pale lilies languish, roses shed

Their sweet leaves, grateful to the head.
So soon that radiant tincture dies,
That does soft cheeks vermilionise,
Rapt in a moment. Every day
From beauty bears some spoil away.
None wise, then, such a fleeting toy
Will trust; but, while they may, enjoy;
Time does with silent motion haste,
Succeeding hours are worse than past.

SECRECY.

Hipp. 876.

Alium silere quod voles, primus sile.
If silence you'd expect, first silence keep.

THE HUMBLE.

Hipp. 1124.

Minor in parvis Fortuna furit,
Leviusque ferit leviora deus.

Small things do hardly feel

The rage of fortune. What is low

Heaven's high hand strikes with a slight blow.