" MANY a case of Fortune's spite I find,
But Seneca's and Nero's prove it best;
However, to avoid prolixity,
Let us abandon the particulars.
'Twould be too much to tell all Nero's deeds,
The cruel man who set all Rome afire
And foully put the senators to death
And, stonyhearted, sealed his brother's fate
And had his mother's womb anatomized
That he might see where he had been conceived,
And passed upon the beauty of her parts
As she dismembered lay, so stories go.
Ah, God! What a felonious judge was he!
For not a single tear fell from his eyes,
But for his stomach's sake he called for wine
And drank as he passed judgment on the corpse.
Moreover, he had lain with her before,
His sister raped, his body lent to men.
His good old teacher, Seneca, he doomed
To martyrdom, bidding him choose the means
By which he would prefer to end his life;
Who, seeing he could not escape his fate,
So powerful was the wretch, made this request:
" Since there's no help for it, prepare a bath
In whose warm waters let my veins discharge
My blood, that unto God who formed my soul
(And who from other torment will defend)
It may return bravely and at peace."
The emperor soon had the bath prepared,
True to his word, admitting no delay,
And in it had the worthy tutor bled
Until his flowing blood released his soul;
And no excuse had Nero for this crime
Except that, as a custom, from his youth
He had done reverence to Seneca
As pupil should to master. But he said:
" It is not fitting, and it shall not be
That anywhere I should do reverence
To any man, though he my father were,
Or teacher, now that I am emperor."
Unable custom's force to overcome,
And since it irked him to do reverence
And in his master's presence to arise,
He doomed the noble man to meet his death.
It was this lawless king I have described
Who jurisdiction had o'er all of Rome
With its wide empire stretching from the north
Unto the south, and from the east to west.
" If you have noted what I've said, you've learned
That riches, reverence, and dignity,
Honor, and strength, and all of Fortune's gifts
(For I except not one), are powerless
To change a man to virtuousness from vice —
To make him worthy to have wealth and rule.
If such men have in them hardheartedness,
Evil, or pride, the height to which they rise
Will soon display and emphasize their faults
More than would e'er have done their low estate,
Which could not nourish such deficiencies.
When they enlarge their power, they show their lust,
An evidence and proof they are not good
Or worthy to have honor, wealth, and rule.
" There is a proverb which men oft repeat —
I call it foolish, but they count it true,
Misled by lack of learning — which declares:
" Manners are changed by honors." But, in truth,
This is ill logic; honors do no harm,
But they give opportunity for proof
Of what the manners were a man had had
When in his low estate, and which he'd kept
As he pursued the road to prominence.
If such men are unpitying and proud
And cruel and malicious when raised high,
You may well know that they were so before,
And had appeared so had they had the power.
Therefore the name of power I'll not apply
To evil force; for well the Scripture says
All power comes from good, and evil deeds
Result from foolishness and lack of force.
Clearsighted men can see that evil's naught.
If unconvinced by such authority
(For possibly you'll think it is not good),
You may be quickly shown that naught can be
Impossible for God. But, truth to tell,
Not even God has power to do wrong.
Now if you're logical you will conclude,
Since God's omnipotent, yet powerless
To do a wrong, that wrong is naught that we
Believe to have the property of things,
As you can clearly see. A shadow has
No substance, but a simple lack of light;
So evil is no substance, but is lack
Of good in any creature that is bad.
Evil can add nothing to what is there.
The text that tells us all about this thing
Says further that the wicked are no men,
And weighty arguments brings up in proof.
But I'll not take the pains to give these points,
For you can find them written in the book.
Nevertheless, unless it troubles you,
I'll briefly state some of the reasoning:
Ill creatures tend the purpose to forsake
For which all were created, which we call
The purpose principal; in consequence
They are not of the order of mankind
Who do the things they were created for.
Therefore the wicked are as good as naught.
" Behold how Fortune makes all men despair,
Below in this terrestrial wilderness,
Choosing the very worst of them to rule
As lord and master over all mankind,
Condeming Seneca to such a death.
Wisely avoid her favors, then, for we
Are never certain of great happiness;
Therefore would I have you despise her grace
As nothing worth your heed. E'en Claudian,
The poet, pondering such facts, would blame
The gods, as if it were by their consent
That bad men mount so high and gain such rule
And riches; but himself refutes the charge
And shows the cause, by logic clear to all,
Absolving and excusing deity.
He thinks bad men to be allowed their power
That afterward may greater be their fall
And punishment; the higher the estate
Such men attain, the worse their overturn.
" If you perform the service I enjoin
And have explained, you'll never find a man
More rich than you. No envy will you feel,
However much your fortune may decline
With loss of friends, or bodily distress.
As soon as you accept me as your friend,
You'll patience have. Why linger sadly still?
I see your eyes distill the frequent tears
Like drops from an alembic forced by fire.
You're like a rag dragged through a dirty pond;
Now he would be a fool who called you man.
No one who ever used his mother wit
Appeared one half so wan and miserable.
The living Devil, enemy of faith,
Feeding his furnace hot, makes your eyes weep.
If you were wise, you would not be dismayed
At anything you ever undergo.
'Tis your good friend and master fans the flames —
The God of Love this sorrow brings to you —
And his acquaintance you have dearly bought.
It is not seemly for a man of sense,
Renowned for prowess, thus to shame himself.
Leave weeping to the children and the dames —
Creatures variable and feeble, too.
However Fortune comes, you should stand firm.
Think you her wheel will stop for great or small?
" Nero, the emperor of whom I spoke,
Whose empire's boundaries stretched through the world,
In spite of honors gained, felt Fortune's turn.
Most miserable death did he receive,
So much the people hated him, they say.
Fearing to be attacked by them, he sent
To all his private friends, but none he found
Who thought they should give refuge to their king.
Then secretly and woefully he went
To knock upon their doors with his own hands.
No better but e'en worse was the result:
The more he knocked, the more they barred their gates,
Nor even gave him answer with a word.
Then, seeing he must hide, he safely sought
In orchard walled, with certain of his slaves,
And heard the cries of those who sought his life:
" Who has seen Nero? Where to find the wretch!"
But, though he heard, knew not what he should do.
So much abased that he despised himself,
Seeing no hope of aid, he begged his slaves
To slay him, or his suicide to help;
And so he killed himself, but first did ask
That they should let nobody find his head,
But burn his body quickly as they could
That it might not be found and recognized.
The ancient book of Suetonius
Called The Twelve Caesars tells of Nero's death.
(The author calls the faith of Christian sect
" False, new religion" — these the very words
Used by the infidel!) The Caesars' line
Ended with Nero. His foul deeds deserved
That with his death his dynasty should end.
Yet he so nobly reigned five years at first
That none could ask a better sovereign.
This hard, false king seemed pious and upright.
Once, when a death decree he had to sign
In court at Rome, he had the grace to say
That he would rather not have learned to write
Than to have signed the warrant. History
Recounts that he ruled fourteen years, and lived
Until the age of thirty-two. But pride
Incited felony, until so low
He fell from his great height, as I have told.
You understand that Fortune made him mount
To lofty state that thence his fall might greater be. "
But Seneca's and Nero's prove it best;
However, to avoid prolixity,
Let us abandon the particulars.
'Twould be too much to tell all Nero's deeds,
The cruel man who set all Rome afire
And foully put the senators to death
And, stonyhearted, sealed his brother's fate
And had his mother's womb anatomized
That he might see where he had been conceived,
And passed upon the beauty of her parts
As she dismembered lay, so stories go.
Ah, God! What a felonious judge was he!
For not a single tear fell from his eyes,
But for his stomach's sake he called for wine
And drank as he passed judgment on the corpse.
Moreover, he had lain with her before,
His sister raped, his body lent to men.
His good old teacher, Seneca, he doomed
To martyrdom, bidding him choose the means
By which he would prefer to end his life;
Who, seeing he could not escape his fate,
So powerful was the wretch, made this request:
" Since there's no help for it, prepare a bath
In whose warm waters let my veins discharge
My blood, that unto God who formed my soul
(And who from other torment will defend)
It may return bravely and at peace."
The emperor soon had the bath prepared,
True to his word, admitting no delay,
And in it had the worthy tutor bled
Until his flowing blood released his soul;
And no excuse had Nero for this crime
Except that, as a custom, from his youth
He had done reverence to Seneca
As pupil should to master. But he said:
" It is not fitting, and it shall not be
That anywhere I should do reverence
To any man, though he my father were,
Or teacher, now that I am emperor."
Unable custom's force to overcome,
And since it irked him to do reverence
And in his master's presence to arise,
He doomed the noble man to meet his death.
It was this lawless king I have described
Who jurisdiction had o'er all of Rome
With its wide empire stretching from the north
Unto the south, and from the east to west.
" If you have noted what I've said, you've learned
That riches, reverence, and dignity,
Honor, and strength, and all of Fortune's gifts
(For I except not one), are powerless
To change a man to virtuousness from vice —
To make him worthy to have wealth and rule.
If such men have in them hardheartedness,
Evil, or pride, the height to which they rise
Will soon display and emphasize their faults
More than would e'er have done their low estate,
Which could not nourish such deficiencies.
When they enlarge their power, they show their lust,
An evidence and proof they are not good
Or worthy to have honor, wealth, and rule.
" There is a proverb which men oft repeat —
I call it foolish, but they count it true,
Misled by lack of learning — which declares:
" Manners are changed by honors." But, in truth,
This is ill logic; honors do no harm,
But they give opportunity for proof
Of what the manners were a man had had
When in his low estate, and which he'd kept
As he pursued the road to prominence.
If such men are unpitying and proud
And cruel and malicious when raised high,
You may well know that they were so before,
And had appeared so had they had the power.
Therefore the name of power I'll not apply
To evil force; for well the Scripture says
All power comes from good, and evil deeds
Result from foolishness and lack of force.
Clearsighted men can see that evil's naught.
If unconvinced by such authority
(For possibly you'll think it is not good),
You may be quickly shown that naught can be
Impossible for God. But, truth to tell,
Not even God has power to do wrong.
Now if you're logical you will conclude,
Since God's omnipotent, yet powerless
To do a wrong, that wrong is naught that we
Believe to have the property of things,
As you can clearly see. A shadow has
No substance, but a simple lack of light;
So evil is no substance, but is lack
Of good in any creature that is bad.
Evil can add nothing to what is there.
The text that tells us all about this thing
Says further that the wicked are no men,
And weighty arguments brings up in proof.
But I'll not take the pains to give these points,
For you can find them written in the book.
Nevertheless, unless it troubles you,
I'll briefly state some of the reasoning:
Ill creatures tend the purpose to forsake
For which all were created, which we call
The purpose principal; in consequence
They are not of the order of mankind
Who do the things they were created for.
Therefore the wicked are as good as naught.
" Behold how Fortune makes all men despair,
Below in this terrestrial wilderness,
Choosing the very worst of them to rule
As lord and master over all mankind,
Condeming Seneca to such a death.
Wisely avoid her favors, then, for we
Are never certain of great happiness;
Therefore would I have you despise her grace
As nothing worth your heed. E'en Claudian,
The poet, pondering such facts, would blame
The gods, as if it were by their consent
That bad men mount so high and gain such rule
And riches; but himself refutes the charge
And shows the cause, by logic clear to all,
Absolving and excusing deity.
He thinks bad men to be allowed their power
That afterward may greater be their fall
And punishment; the higher the estate
Such men attain, the worse their overturn.
" If you perform the service I enjoin
And have explained, you'll never find a man
More rich than you. No envy will you feel,
However much your fortune may decline
With loss of friends, or bodily distress.
As soon as you accept me as your friend,
You'll patience have. Why linger sadly still?
I see your eyes distill the frequent tears
Like drops from an alembic forced by fire.
You're like a rag dragged through a dirty pond;
Now he would be a fool who called you man.
No one who ever used his mother wit
Appeared one half so wan and miserable.
The living Devil, enemy of faith,
Feeding his furnace hot, makes your eyes weep.
If you were wise, you would not be dismayed
At anything you ever undergo.
'Tis your good friend and master fans the flames —
The God of Love this sorrow brings to you —
And his acquaintance you have dearly bought.
It is not seemly for a man of sense,
Renowned for prowess, thus to shame himself.
Leave weeping to the children and the dames —
Creatures variable and feeble, too.
However Fortune comes, you should stand firm.
Think you her wheel will stop for great or small?
" Nero, the emperor of whom I spoke,
Whose empire's boundaries stretched through the world,
In spite of honors gained, felt Fortune's turn.
Most miserable death did he receive,
So much the people hated him, they say.
Fearing to be attacked by them, he sent
To all his private friends, but none he found
Who thought they should give refuge to their king.
Then secretly and woefully he went
To knock upon their doors with his own hands.
No better but e'en worse was the result:
The more he knocked, the more they barred their gates,
Nor even gave him answer with a word.
Then, seeing he must hide, he safely sought
In orchard walled, with certain of his slaves,
And heard the cries of those who sought his life:
" Who has seen Nero? Where to find the wretch!"
But, though he heard, knew not what he should do.
So much abased that he despised himself,
Seeing no hope of aid, he begged his slaves
To slay him, or his suicide to help;
And so he killed himself, but first did ask
That they should let nobody find his head,
But burn his body quickly as they could
That it might not be found and recognized.
The ancient book of Suetonius
Called The Twelve Caesars tells of Nero's death.
(The author calls the faith of Christian sect
" False, new religion" — these the very words
Used by the infidel!) The Caesars' line
Ended with Nero. His foul deeds deserved
That with his death his dynasty should end.
Yet he so nobly reigned five years at first
That none could ask a better sovereign.
This hard, false king seemed pious and upright.
Once, when a death decree he had to sign
In court at Rome, he had the grace to say
That he would rather not have learned to write
Than to have signed the warrant. History
Recounts that he ruled fourteen years, and lived
Until the age of thirty-two. But pride
Incited felony, until so low
He fell from his great height, as I have told.
You understand that Fortune made him mount
To lofty state that thence his fall might greater be. "