Lucre

“ If thou surcease to be, that should survive:
Shall rotten death make conquest of the stronger,
And leave the foultring feeble soules alive?
The old Bees die, the young possess their hive,
⁠Then live sweet Lucrece, live again, and see
⁠Thy father die, and not thy father thee.
By this starts Colatine as from a dreame,
And bids Lucretius give his sorrow place,
And then in key-cold Lucrece bleeding streame
He fals, and bathes the pale fear in his face,
And counterfeits to die with her a space.
⁠Till manly shame bids him possess his breath,
⁠And live, to be revenged on her death. ”

“ Perhaps we may regret the existence of this Roman religion, for it did its best to ruin a great poet. The sublimity of the language of Lucretius, when he can leave his attempts at scientific proof, the closeness of his observation, his enjoyment of life, of Nature, and his power of painting them, a certain largeness of touch, and noble amplitude of manner—these, with a burning sincerity, mark him above all others that smote the Latin lyre. ”

“ Blushing at that which is so putrified.
'Daughter, dear daughter,' old Lucretius cries,
'That life was mine which thou hast here deprived.
If in the child the father's image lies,
Where shall I live now Lucrece is unlived?
Thou wast not to this end from me derived.
If children predecease progenitors,
We are their offspring, and they none of ours. ”

“ For what is there in the world so desirable, unless a man should desire deceit, and violence, and misery, and wretchedness, giddiness and distraction. Contentment and tranquillity,” said he, “constitute the happiness of man; but in your city there are no such things to be found. Because who is there here content with his station? Higher, higher, is what every one endeavours to be in the street of Pride; give, give us a little more, says every one in the street of Lucre; sweet, sweet, pray give me some more of it, is the cry of every one in the street of Pleasure. ”

“ The precedent whereof in Lucrece view,
Assailed by night with circumstances strong
Of present death, and shame that might ensue
By that her death, to do her husband wrong.
Such danger to resistance did belong,
The dying fear through all her body spread;
And who cannot abuse a body dead?
By this, mild patience bid fair Lucrece speak
To the poor counterfeit of her complaining:
“My girl,” quoth she, “on what occasion break
Those tears from thee, that down thy cheeks are raining?
If thou dost weep for grief of my sustaining,
Know, gentle wench, it small avails my mood. ”

“ But as religion is an instinct, which will break out in some form, and when expelled from the soul returns in disguise, Lucretius, denying all the gods, pours out a lovely hymn to Venus, goddess of beauty and love. ”

“ May not the spirit, when she has quitted her old house, be forced to weep and wring her hands, and stretch vain shadowy arms to the limbs that were so dear? No one has felt more profoundly than Lucretius the pathos of the dead. ”

“ I asked her, "do they call this house the house of Lucrèce?"
The old woman replied with a sneer: "Why do they call you foreigner? Isn't it because you are a foreigner?"
"Very well; but who was this Madame Lucrèce? Was she a Roman lady?"
"What! You come to Rome and have never heard of Madame Lucrèce? I will tell you her story when we get inside the house. But here is some more of the devil's work! I don't know what has got into this key, it won't turn. Try it yourself." ”

“ Which speechless woe of his poor she attendeth,
And his untimely frenzy thus awaketh:
'Dear lord, thy sorrow to my sorrow lendeth
Another power; no flood by raining slaketh.
My woe too sensible thy passion maketh
More feeling-painful: let it then suffice
To drown one woe, one pair of weeping eyes.
'And for my sake, when I might charm thee so,
For she that was thy Lucrece, now attend me:
Be suddenly revenged on my foe,
Thine, mine, his own: suppose thou dost defend me
From what is past: the help that thou shalt lend me
Comes all too late, yet let the traitor die ”

“ Lucretius, with his usual mixture of acuteness and sophistry, objects to the doctrine that, if it were true, when the soul of a lion passed into the body of a stag, or the soul of a man into the body of a horse, we should see a stag with the courage of a lion, a horse with the intelligence of a man. ”

“ Having perfect confidence in the intelligence, the fidelity, and probity of the Duchess, which We have dwelt upon in previous letters, and likewise in your unfailing obedience to Us and to the Holy See, We trust that you will receive the Duchess Lucretia, as is your duty, with all due honor as your regent, and show her submission in all things. ”

“ Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,
Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste. ”

“ Lucretius, while realising the full pathos and solemnity of the thought of death, preaches submission to the inexorable decree of Nature with a stern consistency and a proud fortitude combating the suggestions of human weakness. ”

“ But the strongest Piece of Burlesque of this kind is the Invocation to Venus at the Beginning of Lucretius: For what can be more so than a solemn Application to a Deity for her Assistance in a Work, the professed Intention of which is to expose the Belief of any Deity at all; and more particularly of any Concern which such superior Beings might be supposed to take in the Affairs of Men. ”

“ As a brief discussion of the point will enable us to see the bearings of an important question, I will here permit a disciple of Lucretius to try the strength of the bishop's position, and then allow the bishop to retaliate, with the view of roiling back, if he can, the difficulty upon Lucretius. Each shall state his case fully and frankly, and you shall be umpire between them. ”

“ Can season with a nay.
Brutus.
We ha’ been mad lords long, now let us be merry lords. Horatius, maugre thy melancholy, and Lucretius, in spite of thy sorrow, I’ll have a song. A subject for the ditty? ”

“ Creech. Hereby ’tis plain Lucretius only blames and chides those who are of a doubtful and wavering Mind, and that openly confess there can be no future Sense remaining after Death, yet privately hope within themselves that some Parts will remain, and therefore mightily dread the want of Burial, nay, violently abhor being a Prey to wild Beasts and Birds. This I take to be a natural hint of the Resurrection of the Body and Immortality of the Soul, tho’ outwardly these Pagans disown’d both ”

“ Lucretius's lines which make human sufferings the butt of the jokes of the gods who look gleefully on from their Elysian happiness, would represent the feelings of these doubters better than any religious expression. ”

“ And forth with bashful innocence doth flie:
But they whose guilt within their bosomes lie,
⁠Imagine every eye beholds their blame;
⁠For Lucrece thought he blush'd to see her shame:
When silly Groome (God wot) it was defect
Of spirit, life, and bold audacity,
Such harmlesse creatures have a true respect
To talk in deeds, while others sawcily
Promise more speed, but do it leasurely.
⁠Even so this pattern of the worne out age,
⁠Pawn'd honest lookes, but layd no words to gage. ”

“ Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him."
We have already seen, that, in the passages quoted from contemporary writers in favour of Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece has, with the exception of two instances, been honoured with equal notice and equal approbation. Here, therefore, it will only be necessary to add those notices in which the latter production is the exclusive object of praise. ”

“ Whome, backe againe, into the toune they whipte.” Shakespeare is even more frequent in his allusions to this same Sinon. The Rape of Lucrece, published in 1594, speaks of him as “the perjured Sinon,” “the false Sinon,” “the subtle Sinon,” and avers (vol. ix. p. 537, l. 1513) ,—
“Like a constant and confirmed devil,
He entertain’d a show so seeming just,
And therein so ensconc’d his secret evil,—
That jealousy itself could not mistrust,
False creeping craft and perjury should thrust
Into so bright a day such black-faced storms,
Or blot with hell-born sin such saint-like forms.” ”

“ The masses of the people believed already in the supernatural and in penal retribution after death for their sins. Lucretius complains of the misery produced upon them by the terrors of the anticipated Tartarus. ”

“ Ergo: because of visions of the night and day and because of their observation of natural phenomena men at large came to the incorrect belief that the gods govern the world. (Lucretius denies the providence of the gods, not their existence.) 2. tradere, facere: infinitives used substantively in apposition to perfugium. 3. templa: realms. 5. severa: stern, austere. Properly the epithet of noctis, but poetically transferred to signa. 6. faces, flammae: meteors. 7. The heaping up of substantives without a copula is not uncommon in Lucretius. ”

“ But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one Beginning with 'Formosum Pastor Corydon.' Lucretius' irreligion is too strong, For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food; ”

“ LUCIUS. Bring down the devil, for he must not die
So sweet a death as hanging presently.
AARON. If there be devils, would I were a devil,
To live and burn in everlasting fire,
So I might have your company in hell
But to torment you with my bitter tongue!
LUCIUS. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.
Enter AEMILIUS
GOTH. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome
Desires to be admitted to your presence.
LUCIUS. Let him come near.
Welcome, Aemilius. What's the news from Rome?
AEMILIUS. Lord Lucius, and you Princes of the Goths,
The Roman Emperor greets you all by me ”

“ All the princes of the earth are risen up from their thrones, all the princes of nations.
14:10. All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us.
14:11. Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.
14:12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?
O Lucifer.... O day star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of the king of Babylon. ”

“ How like a mounting devil in the heart is the unreined ambition. Let it once but play the monarch, and its haughty brow glows with a beauty that bewilders thought and unthrones peace forever. Putting on the very pomp of Lucifer, it turns the heart to ashes, and with not a spring left in the bosom for the spirit's lip, we look upon our splendor and forget the thirst of which we perish. ”

“ In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow And keep eternal spring-time on thy face, So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
Enter Lucius with his weapon drawn
O reverend Tribunes! O gentle aged men! Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death, And let me say, that never wept before, My tears are now prevailing orators. LUCIUS. O noble father, you lament in vain; The Tribunes hear you not, no man is by, And you recount your sorrows to a stone. TITUS. Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead! Grave Tribunes, once more I entreat of you. ”

“ And the emperor said unto him, “How much longer wilt thou lead men into error by thy sorcery?” And Saint Luke answered and said unto him, “I am not a magician, but an Apostle of our Lord Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And the emperor commanded [his soldiers] to cut off his right hand, saying, “I cut off this hand which wrote books”; and straightway they cut off his hand. And Saint Luke said unto him, “Verily we do not fear the death of this world, but behold thou shalt at this moment see the power of my God Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise!” ”

“ We pledge our word to him, and when he has uttered his dolorous tale we deny the word that we have spoken, and pass from him; such cruelty being courtesy indeed, for who more base than he who has mercy for the condemned of God? In the jaws of Lucifer we see the man who sold Christ, and in the jaws of Lucifer the men who slew Caesar. We tremble, and come forth to re-behold the stars. ”

“ But evil is only good perverted,
And Lucifer, the Bearer of Light,
But an angel fallen and deserted,
Thrust from his Father's house with a curse
Into the black and endless night.
Prince Henry. If justice rules the universe,
From the good actions of good men
Angels of light should be begotten,
And thus the balance restored again.
Lucifer. Yes; if the world were not so rotten,
And so given over to the Devil! ”

“ Lucifer.‍Thy Sire's maker—and the Earth's.
Cain.‍And Heaven's,
And all that in them is. So I have heard
His Seraphs sing; and so my father saith.
Lucifer. They say—what they must sing and say, on pain
Of being that which I am,—and thou art—
Of spirits and of men.
Cain.‍And what is that?
Lucifer. Souls who dare use their immortality—
Souls who dare look the Omnipotent tyrant in
His everlasting face, and tell him that
His evil is not good! ”

“ But thanks be to our God, and to high heaven, the light of God is here and the truth of God is here, and we have waged a war with Lucifer, under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be able to stand in the contest and overcome. ”

“ My beloved, the two knights are the devil and the first man. The first, envious of human happiness, possesses a deformed wife, that is, pride; the second had a beautiful wife, which is the soul. The leprosy is iniquity, which drove us from Paradise into the university of the world. The son of the emperor is Christ, who took upon himself our nature ”

“ SATURNINUS. Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths?
These tidings nip me, and I hang the head
As flowers with frost, or grass beat down with storms.
Ay, now begins our sorrows to approach.
'Tis he the common people love so much;
Myself hath often heard them say-
When I have walked like a private man-
That Lucius' banishment was wrongfully,
And they have wish'd that Lucius were their emperor.
TAMORA. Why should you fear? Is not your city strong? ”