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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Im</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Let observation with extensive view, <br> Survey mankind, from China to Peru;<br> Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,<br> And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;<br> Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate,<br> O'erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate,<br> Where wav'ring man, betray'd by vent'rous pride<br> To tread the dreary paths without a guide,<br> As treach'rous phantoms in the mist delude,<br> Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good.<br> How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice,<br> Rules the bold hand, or prompts the suppliant voice,<br> How nations sink, by darling schemes oppress'd,<br> When vengeance listens to the fool's request.<br> Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart,<br> Each gift of nature, and each grace of art,<br> With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,<br> With fatal sweetness elocution flows,<br> Impeachment stops the speaker's pow'rful breath,<br> And restless fire precipitates on death.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> But scarce observ'd the knowing and the bold,<br> Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold;<br> Wide-wasting pest! that rages unconfin'd,<br> And crowds with crimes the records of mankind,<br> For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,<br> For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;<br> Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys,<br> The dangers gather as the treasures rise.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Let hist'ry tell where rival kings command,<br> And dubious title shakes the madded land,<br> When statutes glean the refuse of the sword,<br> How much more safe the vassal than the lord,<br> Low sculks the hind beneath the rage of pow'r,<br> And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tow'r,<br> Untouch'd his cottage, and his slumbers sound,<br> Tho' confiscation's vultures hover round.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> The needy traveller, serene and gay,<br> Walks the wild heath, and sings his toil away.<br> Does envy seize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy,<br> Increase his riches and his peace destroy,<br> New fears in dire vicissitude invade,<br> The rustling brake alarms, and quiv'ring shade,<br> Nor light nor darkness bring his pain relief.<br> One shews the plunder, and one hides the thief.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Yet still one gen'ral cry the skies assails,<br> And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales,<br> Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care,<br> Th' insidious rival and the gaping heir.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Once more, Democritus, arise on earth,<br> With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirth,<br> See motley life in modern trappings dress'd,<br> And feed with varied fools th' eternal jest:<br> Thou who couldst laugh where want enchain'd caprice,<br> Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;<br> Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner died;<br> And scarce a sycophant was fed by pride;<br> Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,<br> Or seen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state;<br> Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,<br> And senates heard before they judg'd a cause;<br> How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,<br> Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?<br> Attentive truth and nature to decry,<br> And pierce each scene with philosophic eye.<br> To thee were solemn toys or empty show,<br> The robes of pleasure and the veils of woe:<br> All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,<br> Whose joys are causeless, or whose griefs are vain.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Such was the scorn that fill'd the sage's mind,<br> Renew'd at ev'ry glance on humankind;<br> How just that scorn ere yet thy voice declare,<br> Search every state, and canvas ev'ry pray'r.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Unnumber'd suppliants crowd Preferment's gate,<br> Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great;<br> Delusive Fortune hears th' incessant call,<br> They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.<br> On ev'ry stage the foes of peace attend,<br> Hate dogs their flight, and insult mocks their end.<br> Love ends with hope, the sinking statesman's door<br> Pours in the morning worshiper no more;<br> For growing names the weekly scribbler lies,<br> To growing wealth the dedicator flies,<br> From every room descends the painted face,<br> That hung the bright Palladium of the place,<br> And smok'd in kitchens, or in auctions sold,<br> To better features yields the frame of gold;<br> For now no more we trace in ev'ry line<br> Heroic worth, benevolence divine:<br> The form distorted justifies the fall,<br> And detestation rids th' indignant wall.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">...</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> When first the college rolls receive his name,<br> The young enthusiast quits his ease for fame;<br> Through all his veins the fever of renown<br> Spreads from the strong contagion of the gown;<br> O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread,<br> And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head.<br> Are these thy views? proceed, illustrious youth,<br> And virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!<br> Yet should thy soul indulge the gen'rous heat,<br> Till captive Science yields her last retreat;<br> Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray,<br> And pour on misty Doubt resistless day;<br> Should no false Kindness lure to loose delight,<br> Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;<br> Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,<br> And Sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain;<br> Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,<br> Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;<br> Should no disease thy torpid veins invade,<br> Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy shade;<br> Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,<br> Nor think the doom of man revers'd for thee:<br> Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,<br> And pause awhile from letters, to be wise;<br> There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,<br> Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.<br> See nations slowly wise, and meanly just,<br> To buried merit raise the tardy bust.<br> If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,<br> Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Nor deem, when learning her last prize bestows<br> The glitt'ring eminence exempt from foes;<br> See when the vulgar 'scape, despis'd or aw'd,<br> Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud.<br> From meaner minds, tho' smaller fines content<br> The plunder'd palace or sequester'd rent;<br> Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,<br> And fatal Learning leads him to the block:<br> Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,<br> But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep....</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br> Enlarge my life with multitude of days,<br> In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;<br> Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,<br> That life protracted is protracted woe.<br> Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,<br> And shuts up all the passages of joy:<br> In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,<br> The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r,<br> With listless eyes the dotard views the store,<br> He views, and wonders that they please no more;<br> Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,<br> And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.<br> Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain,<br> And yield the tuneful lenitives of pain:<br> No sounds alas would touch th' impervious ear,<br> Though dancing mountains witness'd Orpheus near;<br> Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend,<br> Nor sweeter music of a virtuous friend,<br> But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,<br> Perversely grave, or positively wrong.<br> The still returning tale, and ling'ring jest,<br> Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,<br> While growing hopes scarce awe the gath'ring sneer,<br> And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;<br> The watchful guests still hint the last offence,<br> The daughter's petulance, the son's expense,<br> Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,<br> And mould his passions till they make his will.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,<br> Lay siege to life and press the dire blockade;<br> But unextinguish'd Av'rice still remains,<br> And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;<br> He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,<br> His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;<br> Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,<br> Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> But grant, the virtues of a temp'rate prime<br> Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime;<br> An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,<br> And glides in modest innocence away;<br> Whose peaceful day Benevolence endears,<br> Whose night congratulating Conscience cheers;<br> The gen'ral fav'rite as the gen'ral friend:<br> Such age there is, and who could wish its end?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings,<br> To press the weary minutes' flagging wings:<br> New sorrow rises as the day returns,<br> A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns.<br> Now kindred Merit fills the sable bier,<br> Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear.<br> Year chases year, decay pursues decay,<br> Still drops some joy from with'ring life away;<br> New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage,<br> Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,<br> Till pitying Nature signs the last release,<br> And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> But few there are whom hours like these await,<br> Who set unclouded in the gulfs of fate.<br> From Lydia's monarch should the search descend,<br> By Solon caution'd to regard his end,<br> In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,<br> Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise?<br> From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,<br> And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> The teeming mother, anxious for her race,<br> Begs for each birth the fortune of a face:<br> Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring;<br> And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.<br> Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,<br> Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wise,<br> Whom Joys with soft varieties invite,<br> By day the frolic, and the dance by night,<br> Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,<br> And ask the latest fashion of the heart,<br> What care, what rules your heedless charms shall save,<br> Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave?<br> Against your fame with fondness hate combines,<br> The rival batters and the lover mines.<br> With distant voice neglected Virtue calls,<br> Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;<br> Tir'd with contempt, she quits the slipp'ry reign,<br> And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain.<br> In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,<br> The harmless freedom, and the private friend.<br> The guardians yield, by force superior plied;<br> By Int'rest, Prudence; and by Flatt'ry, Pride.<br> Now Beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distress'd,<br> And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512706" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"> Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects find?<br> Must dull Suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?<br> Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,<br> Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?<br> Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,<br> No cries attempt the mercies of the skies?<br> Enquirer, cease, petitions yet remain,<br> Which Heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain.<br> Still raise for good the supplicating voice,<br> But leave to Heav'n the measure and the choice.<br> Safe in his pow'r, whose eyes discern afar<br> The secret ambush of a specious pray'r.<br> Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,<br> Secure whate'er he gives, he gives the best.<br> Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires,<br> And strong devotion to the skies aspires,<br> Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,<br> Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;<br> For love, which scarce collective man can fill;<br> For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill;<br> For faith, that panting for a happier seat,<br> Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat:<br> These goods for man the laws of Heav'n ordain,<br> These goods he grants, who grants the pow'r to gain;<br> With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,<br> And makes the happiness she does not find.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Samuel+Johnson">Samuel Johnson</a></strong></div>