to THE WIFE OF MY YOUTH who still abides with me
"There is a fire
And motion of the soul which will not dwell
In its own narrow being, but aspire
Beyond the fitting medium of desire;
And, but once kindled, quenchless evermore,
Preys upon high adventure, nor can tire
Of aught but rest."
-- Childe Harold.
"Cleopatra. . . . Our size of sorrow,
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great
As that which makes it.--
Enter, below, DIOMEDES.
How now? is he dead?
Diomedes. His death's upon him, but not dead."
-- Antony and Cleopatra (act iv., sc. xiii.).
"Alva. Should the monarch prove unjust--
And, at this time--
Queen. Then I must wait for justice
Until it come; and they are happiest far
Whose consciences may calmly wait their right."
-- Schiller, Don Carlos (act iv., sc. xv.)
"Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust."
-- SHIRLEY.
"And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law,
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw."
-- WORDSWORTH.
"Is that a Death? and are there two?
Is Death that woman's mate?
* * * *
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Nightmare Life-in-Death was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold."
-- COLERIDGE.
"And, waking, I beheld her there
Sea-dreaming in the moted air,
A siren lithe and debonair,
With wristlets woven of scarlet weeds,
And oblong lucent amber beads
Of sea-kelp shining in her hair."
-- THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.
"Who could resist? Who in this universe?
She did so breathe ambrosia, so immerse
My fine existence in a golden clime.
She took me like a child of suckling-time,
And cradled me in roses. Thus condemn'd,
The current of my former life was stemm'd,
And to this arbitrary queen of sense
I bow'd a tranced vassal."
-- KEATS, Endymion.
"I am the resurrection and the life."
If any of my readers, visiting Rome, will make the short journey to the Catacomb of San Calixto, which is more ancient than that of San Sebastiano, he will see what became of the fortune of Ben-Hur, and give him thanks. Out of that vast tomb Christianity issued to supersede the Caesars.
