-
Articles/Ads
Article AN ESSAY ON EPITAPHS. ← Page 4 of 4 Article AN ESSAY ON EPITAPHS. Page 4 of 4 Article A PARABLE. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Essay On Epitaphs.
duct , as we have nothing remarkable or eminent to propose to our imitation . The Ep itaph composed by Enuius for his own tomb has both the faults last mentioned : rTemo me decorit lacrumis , nee funera fletu
Faxit . Cur ? volito vivu' per ora virum . The reader of this Epitaph receives scarce any idea from it , he neither conceives any veneration for the man to whom it belongsnor is instructed by what
, methods this boasted reputation is to be obtained . Though a sepulchral inscription is professedly a panegyric , and , therefore , not confined to historical impartiality , yet it ht always to be written with regard to
oug truth . No man ought to be commended for virtues which lie never possessed , but whoever is curious to know his faults must inquire after them in other places ; the monuments of the dead are not intended to perpetuate the memory of crimes , but to
exhibit patterns of virtue . On the tomb of Maecenas his luxury is not to be mentioned with his munificence , nor is the proscription to find a place on the monument of Augustus . The best subject for Epitaphs is private virtue ; virtue exerted in the same circumstances in which the bulk of mankind are
placed , and which , therefore , may admit of many imitators . He that ha 3 delivered his country from oppression or freed the world from ignorance and error can excite the emulation of a very small number , but he that has repelled the temptations of poverty and disdained to free himself from
distress at the expense of his virtue may animate multitudes by his example to the same firmness of heart and steadiness of resolution . Of this kind I cannot forbear the mention of two Greek inscritionsone upon
p , a man whose writings are well known , the other upon a person whose memory is preserved only in her Epitaph , who both lived in slavery , the most calamitous estate in human life :
^ o-ijirj i ) irfyv eoucra jxovoi rm croifiaTt Sovkrj , Kcu TCO crcu / xcm vvv svpev eXevBepinv . Zositna , quce solo fuit olim corpore serva , Corpore nunc etiam libera facta fuit .
An Essay On Epitaphs.
" Zosima , who in her life could only have her body enslaved , now finds her body likewise set at liberty . " It is impossible to read this E pitaph without being animated to bear the evils of life with constancy , and to support the
dignity of human nature under the most pressing afflictions , both by the example of the heroine whose grave we behold , and the prospect of that state in which , to use the language of the inspired writers , " The poor cease from their labours and the weary be at rest . " The other is upon Epictetus , the Stoic philosopher :
AouAos E 7 rtKT ) jTos yevop . rjv , crwjti avairwpos , Kat irevtvv Igos , Kat ( btXos A . 6 ava . T 0 i < s . Servus Epictetus , mutilatns corpore , vixi , Pauperieque Irtts , curaque prima Deum . " Epictetuswho lies herewas a slave
, , aud a cripple , poor as the beggar in in the proverb , and the favourite of Heaven . " In this distich is comprised the noblest panegyric aud the most important instruction . We may learn from it that virtue
is impracticable in no condition , since Ep ictetus could recommend himself to the regard of Heaven amidst the temptations of poverty and slavery ; slavery which has always been found so destructive to virtue that in many languages a slave and a thief
are expressed by the same word . And we may be likewise admonished by it not to lay any stress on a man ' s outward circumstances in making an estimate of his real value , since Ep ictetus , the beggar , the cripple , and the slave , was the favourite of Heaven .
A Parable.
A PARABLE .
BY H . L . S . A SOWER went forth to sow , But instead of the golden grain I saw that his measure was filled with salt , And I turned to look again .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Essay On Epitaphs.
duct , as we have nothing remarkable or eminent to propose to our imitation . The Ep itaph composed by Enuius for his own tomb has both the faults last mentioned : rTemo me decorit lacrumis , nee funera fletu
Faxit . Cur ? volito vivu' per ora virum . The reader of this Epitaph receives scarce any idea from it , he neither conceives any veneration for the man to whom it belongsnor is instructed by what
, methods this boasted reputation is to be obtained . Though a sepulchral inscription is professedly a panegyric , and , therefore , not confined to historical impartiality , yet it ht always to be written with regard to
oug truth . No man ought to be commended for virtues which lie never possessed , but whoever is curious to know his faults must inquire after them in other places ; the monuments of the dead are not intended to perpetuate the memory of crimes , but to
exhibit patterns of virtue . On the tomb of Maecenas his luxury is not to be mentioned with his munificence , nor is the proscription to find a place on the monument of Augustus . The best subject for Epitaphs is private virtue ; virtue exerted in the same circumstances in which the bulk of mankind are
placed , and which , therefore , may admit of many imitators . He that ha 3 delivered his country from oppression or freed the world from ignorance and error can excite the emulation of a very small number , but he that has repelled the temptations of poverty and disdained to free himself from
distress at the expense of his virtue may animate multitudes by his example to the same firmness of heart and steadiness of resolution . Of this kind I cannot forbear the mention of two Greek inscritionsone upon
p , a man whose writings are well known , the other upon a person whose memory is preserved only in her Epitaph , who both lived in slavery , the most calamitous estate in human life :
^ o-ijirj i ) irfyv eoucra jxovoi rm croifiaTt Sovkrj , Kcu TCO crcu / xcm vvv svpev eXevBepinv . Zositna , quce solo fuit olim corpore serva , Corpore nunc etiam libera facta fuit .
An Essay On Epitaphs.
" Zosima , who in her life could only have her body enslaved , now finds her body likewise set at liberty . " It is impossible to read this E pitaph without being animated to bear the evils of life with constancy , and to support the
dignity of human nature under the most pressing afflictions , both by the example of the heroine whose grave we behold , and the prospect of that state in which , to use the language of the inspired writers , " The poor cease from their labours and the weary be at rest . " The other is upon Epictetus , the Stoic philosopher :
AouAos E 7 rtKT ) jTos yevop . rjv , crwjti avairwpos , Kat irevtvv Igos , Kat ( btXos A . 6 ava . T 0 i < s . Servus Epictetus , mutilatns corpore , vixi , Pauperieque Irtts , curaque prima Deum . " Epictetuswho lies herewas a slave
, , aud a cripple , poor as the beggar in in the proverb , and the favourite of Heaven . " In this distich is comprised the noblest panegyric aud the most important instruction . We may learn from it that virtue
is impracticable in no condition , since Ep ictetus could recommend himself to the regard of Heaven amidst the temptations of poverty and slavery ; slavery which has always been found so destructive to virtue that in many languages a slave and a thief
are expressed by the same word . And we may be likewise admonished by it not to lay any stress on a man ' s outward circumstances in making an estimate of his real value , since Ep ictetus , the beggar , the cripple , and the slave , was the favourite of Heaven .
A Parable.
A PARABLE .
BY H . L . S . A SOWER went forth to sow , But instead of the golden grain I saw that his measure was filled with salt , And I turned to look again .