Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v5.djvu/425

Rh The happiness of men stays not a long time,

Though fast it follows rushing on.

Humble in humble estate, lofty in lofty,

I will be; and the attending dæmon

I will always reverence in my mind,

Serving according to my means.

But if Heaven extend to me kind wealth,

I have hope to find lofty fame hereafter.

Nestor and Lycian Sarpedon—

They are the fame of men—

From resounding words which skillful artists

Sung, we know.

For virtue through renowned

Song is lasting.

But for few is it easy to obtain.

He bestowed the lyre,

And he gives the muse to whom he wishes,

Bringing peaceful serenity to the breast.

The phantom of a shadow are men.

He reared the white-armed child Cyrene,

Who loved neither the alternating motion of the loom,

Nor the superintendence of feasts,