Classic Poem

The FIRST PART.

T H e Old from such affairs is only freed,
Which vigorous Youth, and strength of Body need;
But to more high affairs our Age is lent,
Most properly when heats of Youth are spent.
Did Fabius , and your Father Scipio
(Whose Daughter my Son married) nothing do?
Fabricii, Coruncani, Curii;
Whose Courage, Counsel, and Authority,
The Roman Common-wealth restor'd, did boast,
Nor Appius , with whose strength his sight was lost,
Who when the Senate was to Peace inclin'd
With Pyrrhus , shew'd his Reason was not blind.
Whither's our Courage and our Wisdom come?
When Rome it self conspires the Fate of Rome .
The rest with ancient Gravity and Skill
He spake (for his Oration's extant still.)
'Tis seventeen years since he had Consul been
The second time, and there were ten between;
Therefore their Argument's of little force,
Who Age from great Imployments would divorce.
As in a Ship some climb the Shrouds, t' unfold
The Sail, some sweep the Deck, some pump the Hold;
Whilst he that guides the Helm, imploys his Skill,
And gives the Law to them, by sitting still.
Great actions less from Courage, Strength and Speed,
Than from wise Counsels and Commands proceed;
Those Arts Age wants not, which to Age belong,
Not Heat, but cold Experience makes us strong,
A Consul, Tribune, General, I have been,
All sorts of War I have past through, and seen;
And now grown old, I seem t'abandon it,
Yet to the Senate I prescribe what's fit.
I ev'ry day 'gainst Carthage War proclaim,
(For Rome 's destruction hath been long her aim)
Nor shall I cease till I her ruin see,
Which Triumph may the Gods design for thee;
That Scipio may revenge his Grandsire's Ghost,
Whose Life at Cannæ with great Honour lost
Is on record, nor had he wearied been
With Age, if he an hundred years had seen,
He had not us'd Excursions, Spears, or Darts,
But Counsel, Order, and such aged Arts,
Which, if our Ancestors had not retain'd,
The Senate 's Name our Council had not gain'd.
The Spartans to their highest Magistrate
The Name of Elder did appropriate:
Therefore his Fame for ever shall remain,
How gallantly Tarentum he did gain,
With vigilant Conduct, when that sharp reply
He gave to Salinator , I stood by,
Who to the Castle fled, the Town being lost,
Yet he to Maximus did vainly boast,
'Twas by my means Tarentum you obtain'd;
'Tis true, had you not lost, I had not gain'd;
And as much Honour on his Gown did wait,
As on his Arms, in his Fifth Consulate,
When his Colleague Carvilius stept aside,
The Tribune of the People would divide
To them the Gallick , and the Picene Field;
Against the Senate's will, he will not yield;
When, being angry, boldly he declares
Those things were acted under happy Stars,
From which the Commonwealth found good effects,
But otherwise they came from bad Aspects.
Many great things of Fabius I could tell,
But his Son's Death did all the rest excel;
(His Gallant Son, though young, had Consul been)
His Funeral Oration I have seen
Often, and when on that I turn my Eyes,
I all the Old Philosophers despise,
Though he in all the Peoples Eyes seem'd great,
Yet greater he appear'd in his Retreat;
When feasting with his private Friends at home
Such Counsel, such Discourse from him did come,
Such Science in his Art of Augury,
No Roman ever was more learn'd than he;
Knowledge of all things present, and to come,
Remembring all the Wars of ancient Rome ,
Nor only there, but all the World's beside;
Dying in extreme age, I prophesy'd
That which is come to pass, and did discern
From his Survivors I could nothing learn.
This long Discourse was but to let you see,
That his long Life could not uneasie be.
Few like the Fabii or the Scipio's are
Takers of Cities, Conquerors in War.
Yet others to like happy Age arrive,
Who Modest, Quiet, and with Virtue live:
Thus Plato writing his Philosophy,
With Honour after ninety Years did die.
Th' Athenian Story writ at ninety four
By Isocrates , who yet liv'd five Years more,
His Master Grogias at the hundredth year
And seventh, not his Studies did forbear:
And, askt, why he no sooner left the Stage,
Said, he saw nothing to accuse Old Age.
None but the Foolish, who their lives abuse,
Age, of their own Mistakes and Crimes, accuse.
All Commonwealths (as by Records is seen)
As by' Age preserv'd, by Youth destroy'd have been.
When the Tragedian Nævius did demand,
Why did your Common-wealth no longer stand?
'Twas answer'd, that their Senators were new,
Foolish, and Young, and such as nothing knew;
Nature to Youth hot rashness doth dispence,
But with cold Prudence Age doth recompence;
But Age, 'tis said, will Memory decay,
So (if it be not exercis'd) it may;
Or, if by Nature it be dull and slow:
Themistocles (when ag'd) the Names did know
Of all th' Athenians ; and none grow so old,
Not to remember where they hid their Gold.
From Age such Art of Memory we learn,
To forget nothing, which is our Concern;
Their Interest no Priest nor Sorcerer
Forgets, nor Lawyer, nor Philosopher;
No understanding Memory can want,
Where Wisdom studious Industry doth plant,
Not does it only in the active live,
But in the quiet and contemplative;
When Sophocles (who Plays when aged wrote)
Was by his Sons before the Judges brought,
Because he pay'd the Muses such respect,
His Fortune, Wife, and Children to neglect;
Almost condemn'd, he mov'd the Judges thus,
Hear, but instead of me, my Oedipus :
The Judges hearing with applause, at th'end
Freed him, and said, no Fool such Lines had penn'd.
What Poets and what Orators can I
Recount? what Princes in Philosophy?
Whose constant Studies with their Age did strive,
Nor did they those, though those did them survive.
Old Husbandmen I at Sabinium know,
Who for another Year dig, plough, and sow.
For never any Man was yet so old,
But hop'd his Life one Winter more might hold.
Cæcilius vainly said, each day we spend
Discovers something, which must needs offend;
But sometimes Age may pleasant things behold,
And nothing that offends: He should have told
This not to Age, but Youth, who oftner see
What not alone offends, but hurts, than we:
That, I in him, which he in Age condemn'd,
That us it renders odious, and contemn'd.
He knew not Virtue, if he thought this Truth;
For Youth delights in Age, and Age in Youth.
What to the Old can greater Pleasure be,
Than hopeful and ingenious Youth to see?
When they with Rev'rence follow where we lead,
And in strait Paths by our directions tread;
And even my Conversation here I see,
As well receiv'd by you, as yours by me.
'Tis dis-ingenuous to accuse our Age
Of Idleness, who all our Powers ingage
In the same Studies, the same Course to hold;
Nor think our Reason for new Arts too old.
Solon the Sage his Progress never ceas'd,
But still his Learning with his Days increas'd;
And I with the same greediness did seek,
As Water when I thirst, to swallow Greek ;
Which I did only learn, that I might know
Those great Examples, which I follow now:
And I have heard that Socrates , the Wise,
Learn'd on the Lute for his last Exercise.
Though many of the Antients did the same,
To improve Knowledge was my only aim.