When Pausanias desired Simonides, to give him some grave Apothegm, by which he might apprehend his great wisdom, for which he was so renowned, Simonides smiling spake this, Esse te hominem, ne excideret tibi; Remember that you are a man, that your flesh will fail you. Pausanius puffs at this, but in a short time after, being almost pined to death with Famine, he began to think of Simonides saying; and cried out, O Simonides, magnum quiddam erat oratio tua sed prae amentia esse nihil opinabar. O Simonides, thy speech was full of weight, but I mad wretch, thought it of no worth. Friends, Ministers, nay the chief Master of sentences himself, delivered thee this as the Master piece of wisdom, To remember that thy flesh will fail thee; 1Hear counsel, receive instruction, that thou mayst be wise for thy latter end. But possibly thou like Gallio carest for none of these things; It is death to thee to think of death; Thou hatest it, as Ahab did Micaiah, because it never speaketh well of thee; thy voice to it is as Pharaohs to Moses, Get thee hence, Let me see thy face no more; It is said of Vitellius in Tacitus, that he was one hour (trepidus dein temulentus) fearful, the next drunken, in the very approach of his fatal ruin, striving to drown his fears in his cups; Thou art resolved to riot and revel, and therefore canst not endure to think of a reckoning. Well, put off the thoughts of it, as far and as much as thou canst, ⟨p. 28⟩make as light of it as thy hardened heart will give thee leave, yet be confident tis on its way riding post towards thee with a Warrant from the God of Heaven, for thy Execution; and O then when thou seest its grim face, how will thine heart tremble, and when thou hearest its dreadful voice, how will thine ears tingle! the flesh which thou now pamperest, will then wax pale, and the vessels which now thou drawest thy comforts from, will then run dregs; and then, O then, how mournfully wilt thou screech out; O Pastors, O Teachers, The counsel which you gave me was of infinite weight, and consequence, but I fool, mad man, had not the wit to follow it. Or as Carolus King of Sicily, did on his death-bed. Alas, alas, I am going to dye, and yet have not begun to live.
When Pausanias desired Simonides, to give him some grave Apothegm, by which he might apprehend his great wisdom, for which he was so renowned, Simonides smiling spake this, Esse te hominem, ne excideret tibi; Remember that you are a man, that your flesh will fail you. Pausanius puffs at this, but in a short time after, being almost pined to death with Famine, he began to think of Simonides saying; and cryed out, O Simonides, magnum quiddam erat oratio tua sed prae amentia esse nihil opinabar. O Simonides, thy speech was full of weight, but I mad wretch, thought it of no worth. Friends, Ministers, nay the chief Master of sentences himself, delivered thee this as the Master piece of wisdom, To remember that thy flesh will fail thee; 1Hear counsel, receive instruction, that thou mayst be wise for thy latter end. But possibly thou like Gallio carest for none of these things; It is death to thee to think of death; Thou hatest it, as Ahab did Micaiah, because it never speaketh well of thee; thy voice to it is as Pharaohs to Moses, Get thee hence, Let me see thy face no more; It is said of Vitellius in Tacitus, that he was one hour (trepidus dein temulentus) fearful, the next drunken, in the very approach of his fatal ruine, striving to drown his fears in his cups; Thou art resolved to riot and revel, and therefore canst not endure to think of a reckoning. Well, put off the thoughts of it, as far and as much as thou canst, ⟨p. 28⟩make as light of it as thy hardned heart will give thee leave, yet be confident tis on its way riding post towards thee with a Warrant from the God of Heaven, for thy Execution; and O then when thou seest its grim face, how will thine heart tremble, and when thou hearest its dreadful voice, how will thine ears tingle! the flesh which thou now pamperest, will then wax pale, and the vessels which now thou drawest thy comforts from, will then run dregs; and then, O then, how mournfully wilt thou screech out; O Pastors, O Teachers, The counsel which you gave me was of infinite weight, and consequence, but I fool, mad man, had not the wit to follow it. Or as Carolus King of Sicily, did on his death-bed. Alas, alas, I am going to dye, and yet have not begun to live.
- 1Prov. 19.20.
