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The Epicuran, Leo Decimus,

Had such a mind. He questioned how the soul

Which was not, was, and then was not again

Should be immortal; so he summoned him

His doctors and his clerks and bade them speak

Backward and forward, he digesting all

Their doctrines and logomachies and rules,

Believing here, denying there, and ending

With Gallus': "Redit in nihilum quod ante

Nihil." And judged uncommon well. The soul,

Or, as your Paracelsus saith, the four

Seed covers of the spirit—what are these

But thought ill-elixate, a crapula

Troubling the brain?

But I digress somewhat

From Eden; so did mother Eve, but she

Was woman. Man must ever set his face

Toward the sunset, make his pilgrim way

Into the West. There is no pause for dream

With all the shining kingdom of the mind,

All truth, all science, all the stars to reap,

And Time forever clattering at heel