Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/153

Rh

A very pretty vignette might be made of this, or of a kindred fragment that seems to belong to his later days. And to tell the truth, the poet's rule seems to have been that you should "live while you may." Whether, as has been surmised by Mr Frere, he refers to the catastrophe of Hipparchus or not, the four lines which follow indicate Theognis's conviction that everything is fated,—a conviction very conducive to enjoyment of the passing hour. 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die':—

This conviction, no doubt, to a great degree influenced the poet's indifference to the honours of a pompous funeral, for which, considering his birth and traditions, he might have cherished a weakness. But his tone of mind, we see, was such that he could anticipate no satisfaction from "hat-bands and scarves," or whatever else in his day represented handsome obsequies. When some great chief, perhaps a tyrant, perhaps one of the heads of his party at Megara, was to be borne to his long home with a solemn pageant, Theognis has