<h3><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72" />VI.</h3>
<p>'What now shall I say of rank and power, whereby, because ye know not
true power and dignity, ye hope to reach the sky? Yet, when rank and
power have fallen to the worst of men, did ever an Etna, belching forth
flame and fiery deluge, work such mischief? Verily, as I think, thou
dost remember how thine ancestors sought to abolish the consular power,
which had been the foundation of their liberties, on account of the
overweening pride of the consuls, and how for that self-same pride they
had already abolished the kingly title! And if, as happens but rarely,
these prerogatives are conferred on virtuous men, it is only the virtue
of those who exercise them that pleases. So it appears that honour
cometh not to virtue from rank, but to rank from virtue. Look, too, at
the nature of that power which ye find so attractive and glorious! Do ye
never consider, ye <SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73" />creatures of earth, what ye are, and over whom ye
exercise your fancied lordship? Suppose, now, that in the mouse tribe
there should rise up one claiming rights and powers for himself above
the rest, would ye not laugh consumedly? Yet if thou lookest to his body
alone, what creature canst thou find more feeble than man, who
oftentimes is killed by the bite of a fly, or by some insect creeping
into the inner passage of his system! Yet what rights can one exercise
over another, save only as regards the body, and that which is lower
than the body—I mean fortune? What! wilt thou bind with thy mandates
the free spirit? Canst thou force from its due tranquillity the mind
that is firmly composed by reason? A tyrant thought to drive a man of
free birth to reveal his accomplices in a conspiracy, but the prisoner
bit off his tongue and threw it into the furious tyrant's face; thus,
the tortures which the tyrant thought the instrument of his cruelty the
sage made an opportunity for heroism. Moreover, what is there that one
man can do to another which he himself may not have to undergo <SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74" />in his
turn? We are told that Busiris, who used to kill his guests, was himself
slain by his guest, Hercules. Regulus had thrown into bonds many of the
Carthaginians whom he had taken in war; soon after he himself submitted
his hands to the chains of the vanquished. Then, thinkest thou that man
hath any power who cannot prevent another's being able to do to him what
he himself can do to others?</p>
<p>'Besides, if there were any element of natural and proper good in rank
and power, they would never come to the utterly bad, since opposites are
not wont to be associated. Nature brooks not the union of contraries.
So, seeing there is no doubt that wicked wretches are oftentimes set in
high places, it is also clear that things which suffer association with
the worst of men cannot be good in their own nature. Indeed, this
judgment may with some reason be passed concerning all the gifts of
fortune which fall so plentifully to all the most wicked. This ought
also to be considered here, I think: No one doubts a man to be brave in
whom he has ob<SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75" />served a brave spirit residing. It is plain that one who
is endowed with speed is swift-footed. So also music makes men musical,
the healing art physicians, rhetoric public speakers. For each of these
has naturally its own proper working; there is no confusion with the
effects of contrary things—nay, even of itself it rejects what is
incompatible. And yet wealth cannot extinguish insatiable greed, nor has
power ever made him master of himself whom vicious lusts kept bound in
indissoluble fetters; dignity conferred on the wicked not only fails to
make them worthy, but contrarily reveals and displays their
unworthiness. Why does it so happen? Because ye take pleasure in calling
by false names things whose nature is quite incongruous thereto—by
names which are easily proved false by the very effects of the things
themselves; even so it is; these riches, that power, this dignity, are
none of them rightly so called. Finally, we may draw the same conclusion
concerning the whole sphere of Fortune, within which there is plainly
nothing to be truly desired, nothing of intrinsic excellence; for she
<SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76" />neither always joins herself to the good, nor does she make good men of
those to whom she is united.'</p>
<h3>SONG VI.<br/>Neros' Infamy.</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span>We know what mischief dire he wrought—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Rome fired, the Fathers slain—<br/></span>
<span>Whose hand with brother's slaughter wet<br/></span>
<span class="i2">A mother's blood did stain.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span>No pitying tear his cheek bedewed,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As on the corse he gazed;<br/></span>
<span>That mother's beauty, once so fair,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">A critic's voice appraised.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span>Yet far and wide, from East to West,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">His sway the nations own;<br/></span>
<span>And scorching South and icy North<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Obey his will alone.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span>Did, then, high power a curb impose<br/></span>
<span class="i2">On Nero's phrenzied will?<br/></span>
<span>Ah, woe when to the evil heart<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Is joined the sword to kill!<br/></span></div>
</div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.