The Fourscore and Eleventh Epistle OF LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA The PHILOSOPHER.  
WRITTEN Upon Occasion of the sudden BURNING OF Lions in France.  
Translated out of the Original into English Verse.  
LONDON, Printed by William Godbid. 1666.   

The Fourscore and Eleventh Epistle of Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Philosopher: Written upon occasion of the sudden Burning of LIONS in FRANCE.  

OUR Liberalis is with grief and Pity  
Filled at the burning of his Native City.  
This direful accident might any move,  
Though to that City not concerned in love:  
And even to his mind might add more strength:  
Who, what he feared, has found to come at length.  
But this unlooked for chance, and which is more  
Un-heard of, 'tis no wonder that before  
'Twas heard or thought on, it was fiercely sent,  
Since it was also without Precedent.  
A raging Fire hath very much annoyed  
And damaged Cities, but hath none destroyed.  
For where quick fire is thrown with hostile hand,  
Houses untouched in many places stand.  
And no Earthquake hath been so fatal known,  
That a whole City hath been overthrown.  
And no consuming flame hath been so dire,  
But it left something for another fire.  
So many famous Piles, which singly might  
Crace several Cities, fell down in one night.  
And in a time of Peace as much fell out  
As scarce a cruel war could bring about.  
Who could believe wars ceasing every where  
When through the World no dangers did appear,  
That Lions so renowned should by that chance  
Be sought and doubted, where it stood in France.  
Fortune permits even those who suffer woe,  
To fear the ill they were to undergo.  
Great things have time before th' are overthrown,  
This famous City in one night was none.  
Lastly, I'm longer telling thee the thing,  
Than all those Buildings were in perishing.  
These things disturb our Liberalis mind,  
To patience in his own affairs confined.  
Nor is he so perplexed without a cause,  
The un-expectedness of chances draws  
More trouble, and the novelty of things  
To all calamity Addition brings.  
And there's no mortal man, being struck with wonder,  
But some conceived trouble must lie under.  
Wherefore in nothing we should be surprised,  
Our minds in foresight should be exercised,  
To weigh not only what's un-usual  
But to consider too what may befall.  
What is so strong, 'gainst which when Fortune's bent  
Though glorious, cannot receive detriment?  
Or which she does not shake, or more molest  
By how much it was greater than the rest?  
What's difficult by Fortune to be done?  
She walks in no way always, nor alone.  
Sometimes our own hands 'gainst ourselves she bends,  
And then without an Author mischief sends.  
No time is free, our very pleasures turn  
Into great woe, and often make us mourn.  
War sometimes rises in the midst of Peace,  
And that which seems our troubles to release  
Turns into fear: a Friend does love forgo,  
And a Companion is become a foe.  
A Summer's calmness many times does draw  
A Storm more fierce than any Winter's flaw.  
Without an Enemy we find a war,  
Such is our fate, that many times we are  
By our too great Felicity, to woe  
Exposed, when we no other causes know.  
Diseases the most temperate will assail,  
The Ptissick on the strongest will prevail.  
Upon the guiltless punishment is laid,  
And tumults will men's quietness invade;  
Fortune oft chooses something new, whereby  
On those who have forgot her power, she'll fly.  
Whats'ever many ages have erected,  
By the god's favour, and men's pains effected,  
One day dissolves. He gives a long delay  
To hastening Evils, who allows a day.  
An hour, a moment is sufficient space  
Great Kingdoms to throw down, and quite erace.  
It would some solace to our weakness bring,  
And to th' Affairs of men, if every thing  
Did not increase with slowness, and with haste  
Dissolve and fall. There's nothing that stands fast  
Private or public. Fear in those things which please  
And flourish most, does soon on us seize.  
And ills which are by us lest thought upon,  
Without tumultuous causes will fall on.  
Kingdoms which have endured both Civil wars  
And Foreign, have without public jars  
Been ruined. And few Cities have enjoyed  
Felicity, and never been annoyed.  
We therefore should weigh all things, and advance  
Our constant minds, 'gainst every sad mischance.  
Think therefore still on Wars, and Sicknesses,  
On Shipwrecks, Banishments, and the Excess  
Of Torments. Think thy Country may be taken  
From thee, or else by thee may be forsaken.  
Think Fortune may expose thee in a rude  
Desert; and think that where a Multitude  
Is stifled, there a Desert may be made.  
Let the condition of Mankind be laid,  
Before our eyes, and let's not only weigh  
What happens often, but let's think what may  
Befall: and would we not our errors rue,  
Mistaking things un-usual for new,  
Let us on fortune look in her full power.  
How many Cities did her rage devour  
In Asia and Achaia by one way?  
How many in Syria, and Macedonia?  
Cyprus in many parts could not avoid  
That fate, but hath been many times destroyed.  
How oft hath Paphus Earthquakes felt, and sped  
As ill, in her own ruins buried.  
We who have often heard of Towns thus tossed,  
How small a part are we of men so lost?  
Then let us 'gainst Misfortunes our minds raise,  
And think th' are not so great as rumour says.  
Fire hath consumed a City great and rich,  
The Ornament of Provinces, in which  
It did both seated and exempted lie,  
Yet built upon one hill not very high.  
Nay, all those Cities famous through the world,  
Will at the length be into ruin hurled.  
And there will not in future time appear  
A Mark, or any Footstep where they were.  
See'st thou not that Achaia's stately Towns  
Are so destroyed, that there remains no Bounds  
Nor yet Foundations to make it good  
To the Beholders, where those Cities stood.  
Not only what is framed by hand and art  
Time does consume, the tops of Mountains start  
And tumble down, whole Regions have been found  
To sink, and many Countries have been drowned  
Far distant from the sea. High hills which were  
Famous by fire, fire did in sunder tear.  
And Promontories, which have been a Mark  
For Mariners to guide and steer their Bark;  
At fight whereof they usually have joyed,  
Have been laid flat, and utterly destroyed.  
The very works of Nature troubled are,  
And therefore we with equal minds should bear  
All City's fate. Things made, were made to fall,  
And Dissolution waits upon them all.  
Whether the violence of inward wind,  
Striving a passage through the Earth to find,  
Shakes the great weight of Earth? Or whether  
Those hidden torrents join their force together?  
Or that the heat of inward flames does waste  
The Ligaments of Earth which tied it fast.  
Or whether Age 'gainst which there's no defence,  
Does by degrees effect this violence.  
Or that a poisonous Air the Land bereft  
Of People, and infected what was left?  
To repeat all the ways of destiny  
Were long, but by experience I  
Am sure of this, that mortal things are all  
Condemned into Mortality to fall.  
We live not where we can find any thing  
That is secure, but daily perishing.  
These comforts and the like I re-commend  
To Liberalis our un-doubted friend,  
Exceedingly inflamed with the love  
Of his own Country, whose sad fate may prove  
No small advantage; for perhaps that chance  
Ordained was its glory more t' advance.  
Many great things have fallen, to rise more high,  
And often are improved by injury.  
Timagines, a foe to th' happiness  
Of Rome, would often when it was burnt profess,  
The burning he did not so much deplore,  
As that it would rise greater than before.  
And in this City we may well suppose  
No labour will be wanting, till it grows  
From a vast heap of ashes and of dust,  
Greater and firmer than it was at first;  
I wish it may last, and being built again  
With better Omen, longer may remain;  
For since that Town was built, it is not past  
An hundred years, an age which some men last.  
Plancus, by fitness of the place first made  
The Town a great and noted Mart for Trade.  
Which notwithstanding hath endured much rage  
Within the space but of a humane age.  
And therefore let us be prepared still  
To suffer patiently all sorts of ill;  
And know there's nothing Fortune cannot do,  
Both to advancement and to ruin too.  
And that her power on Empires does prevail  
As upon Emperors, and does assail  
Cities as well as Men; at which things we  
Should not repine, or discontentd be.  
We are brought into a World where we must live  
Under those Laws. Do they thee please? Then give  
Obedience. Do they displease? Thou art  
At Liberty at all times to departed.  
Thou mightst complain if any of these were put  
And thrown on thee alone unjustly, but  
Since this necessity as well does wait  
On high as low, be reconciled to Fate,  
Which all things will dissolve. Reason presents  
No cause at all, that we by Monuments  
And Tombs should measured be. One fate attends  
On mortal men, and brings them to their ends.  
W' are born un-equal, but we equal die.  
The same of Cities as of Dwellers, I  
Do here declare. Ardea was as well  
Taken as Rome, though this did that excel.  
The great Ordainer of all humane right  
Makes no distinction of us by the bright  
Splendour of birth and titles, longer than  
We are alive, and conversant with men.  
And when we end this Mortal life, begun  
From hence, says he, depart ambition;  
All Mortals walk one way, and all things lie  
Equally under common destiny.  
None, than an other can be more secure,  
Or know what he to morrow shall endure.  
Young Alexander King of Macedon  
Geometry unhappily begun  
To learn, the smallness of the Earth to know  
Whereof the least part did him homage owe.  
Unhappy, I say, in that he should have known  
How false a Surname he did vainly own.  
For what can in a little place be great?  
The points whereof the Master did entreat  
Were subtle, and not easily discerned,  
But with a diligent attention learned;  
Not apprehended by a Frantic man  
Whose thoughts did rove beyond the Ocean.  
Teach me, said he, those things which will be made  
More easy to me: T' whom the Master said,  
These things are still the same, altered to none,  
And are as difficult to all, as One.  
Think Nature thus to all men does declare  
Those things at which you grumble, the same  
To all, nor can they be more easy made  
To any, but whosoever shall persuade  
B●t himself, without compulsion, to forsake  
All fear of chances, will them easy make.  
But how? By equalness of mind. The art born  
To endure sorrow, hunger, thirst, and scorn.  
And if thou longer shalt with men remain,  
Thou fickness, loss, and ruin may'st sustain.  
But yet there is no reason thou shouldst give  
Belief to those things which about thee strive.  
For none of them are ill, or hard to bear;  
It is report of men that brings this fear.  
And what can be more vain, than to be vexed  
At rumour, and to be for words perplexed?  
Demetrius that he might drive away  
Such foolishness, oft wittily would say,  
I care no more what foolish people speak  
Than whether wind upward or downward break.  
It is a madness we are brought to, when  
We fear to be defamed b' infamous men;  
As thou without good reason didst fear fame,  
So what thou didst not fear, when once the same  
Shall bid thee, thou wilt fear; can it be thought  
A good man suffers by false rumours, fraught  
With scandals? Nor is Death hurt, by what  
Is said of it, though some be scared there-at.  
None, who accuse Death, have experience got.  
'Tis rashness to condemn what we know not.  
But this we know, that 'tis a benefit  
To many, and that many are by it  
Discharged from torments, poverty, and grief.  
And find in weariness, and wrongs relief.  
If Death be under our own power, then where  
Is any other power that we should fear?   
FINIS.