No More Learning

The pity of it! One fell hour," they say,
"Hath robbed thee of thine every prize in life. "
Hereat they add not this: "And now thou art
Beset with yearning for such things no more. "

The dead are to be envied, not lamented. The wise will exclaim: "Thou,
O dead, art free from pain: we who survive are full of tears. "

"What is so passing bitter," we should ask,
"If life be rounded by a rest and sleep,
That one should pine in never-ending grief? "

Universal nature has a rebuke for the coward that is afraid to die.
There are no punishments beyond. Hell and hell's tortures are in this
life. It is the victim of passion or of gnawing cares that is the real
victim of torment.


_IV--The World's Origin and Its Growth_

Not by design did primal elements
Find each their place as 'twere with forethought keen,
Nor bargained what their movements were to be;
But since the atom host in many ways
Smitten by blows for infinite ages back,
And by their weight impelled, have coursed along,
Have joined all ways, and made full test of all
The types which mutual unions could create,
Therefore it is that through great time dispersed,
With every kind of blend and motion tried,
They meet at length in momentary groups
Which oft prove rudiments of mighty things--
Of earth, and sea, and sky, and living breeds.

Amidst this primeval medley of warring atoms there was no sun-disk to
be discerned climbing the vault, no stars, or sea, or sky, or earth,
or air--nothing, in fact, like what now exists. The next stage came
when the several parts began to fly asunder, and like to join with
like, so that the parts of the world were gradually differentiated.
Heavier bodies combined in central chaos and forced out lighter
elements to make ether. Thus earth was formed by a long process of
condensation.
Daily, as ever more the ether-fires
And sun-rays all around close pressed the earth
With frequent blows upon its outer crust,
Each impact concentrating it perforce,
So was a briny sweat squeezed out the more
With ooze to swell the sea and floating plains.


PRIMEVAL FERTILITY OF THE EARTH

At first the earth produced all kinds of herbs
And verdant sheen o'er every hill and plain;
The flowery meadows gleamed in hues of green,
And soon the trees were gifted with desire
To race unbridled in the lists of growth;
As plumage, hair, and bristles are produced
On limbs of quadrupeds or frame of birds,
So the fresh earth then first put forth the grass
And shrubs, and next gave birth to mortal breeds,
Thick springing multiform in divers ways.
The name of "Mother," then, earth justly won,
Since from the earth all living creatures came.
Full many monsters earth essayed to raise,
Uprising strange of look and strange of limb,
Hermaphrodites distinct from either sex,
Some robbed of feet, and others void of hands,
Or mouthless mutes, or destitute of eyes,
Or bound by close adhesion of their limbs
So that they could do naught nor move at all,
Nor shun an ill, nor take what need required.
All other kinds of portents earth did yield--
In vain, since nature drove increase away,
They could not reach the longed-for bloom of life,
Nor find support, nor link themselves in love.


SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

All things you see that draw the breath of life,
Have been protected and preserved by craft,
Or speed, or courage, from their early years;
And many beasts, which usefulness commends,
Abide domesticated in our care.

The protective quality in such animals as lions is ferocity; in
foxes, cunning; in stags, swiftness. Creatures without such natural
endowments of defence or utility tend to be the prey of others, and so
become extinct.


PRIMITIVE MAN

Primeval man was hardier in the fields,
As fitted those that hardy earth produced,
Built on a frame of larger, tougher bones
And knit with powerful sinews in his flesh;
Not likely to be hurt by heat or cold,
Or change of food, or wasting pestilence.
While many lustres of the sun revolved
Men led a life of roving like the beasts.
What sun or rain might give, or soil might yield
Unforced, was boon enough to sate the heart.
Oft 'neath the acorn-bearing oaks they found
Their food; and arbute-berries, which you now
In winter see turn ripe with scarlet hue,
Of old grew greater in luxuriance.
Through well known woodland haunts of nymphs they roamed,
Wherefrom they saw the gliding water brook
Bathe with a generous plash the dripping rocks--
Those dripping rocks that trickled o'er green moss.

As yet mankind did not know how to handle fire, or to clothe
themselves with the spoils of the chase; but dwelt in woods, or caves,
or other random shelter found in stress of weather. Each man lived for
himself, and might was right. The stone or club was used in hunting;
but the cave-dwellers were in frequent danger of being devoured by
beasts of prey.