his neck. Septimius Severus[1] in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum:[2] And the like. Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. Better saith he, qui finem vitæ extremum inter munera ponat naturæ.[3] It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good doth avert the dolours[4] of death. But above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, Nunc dimittis;[5] when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. Extinctus amabitur idem.[6]
- ↑ Lucius Septimius Severus, Roman emperor, 146– 211 A.D.
- ↑ Make haste, if anything remains for me to do. Dion Cassius. Liber LXXVI. 17.
- ↑ Who considers the end of life as one of nature's blessings. The thought is Juvenal's, D. Junii Juvenalis Aquinatis Satirarum Liber IV. Satira X. 358–-359. Bacon quotes the verse again in the Advancement of Learning. II. xxi. 5.
- ↑ Dolours. Griefs, sorrows. "About this time I did light on a dreadful story of that miserable mortal, Francis Spira; a book that was to my troubled spirit, as salt when rubbed into a fresh wound: every sentence in that book, every groan of that man, with all the rest of his actions in his dolours, as his tears, his prayers, his gnashing of teeth, his wringing of hands, his twisting, and languishing, and pining away under that mighty hand of God that was upon him, were as knives and daggers to my soul." Bunyan. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. The Works of that eminent servant of Christ, John Bunyan, Minister of the Gospel; and formerly Pastor of a Congregation at Bedford. Vol. I. p. 49. (New Haven. 1831.)
- ↑ Nunc dimittis, or the Song of Simeon. Luke ii. 29–32. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." It is one of the canticles for Evening Prayer in the Church of England.
- ↑ The same man, dead, will be loved; i.e., he who is envied and suffers from detraction in life, may become a hero after death. Q. Horatii Flacci Epistolarum Liber II. Epistola I. Ad Augustum. 14.
