"If thou wouldst know thyself, and what thou art,
Look on the sepulchres as thou dost pass;
There lie within the bones and little dust
Of mighty kings and wisest men of old;
They who once prided them on birth or wealth,
Or glory of great deeds, or beauteous form;
Yet nought of these might stay the hand of Time.
Look,—and bethink thee thou art even as they."[1]
We find also passages quoted as his, though their genuineness is somewhat doubtful, which breathe a higher tone still. The sentiment expressed in the following lines, attributed to the poet by Clement of Alexandria, is almost identical with that of the grand passage with which Persius concludes his second Satire:—
"Trust me, my Pamphilus, if any think
By offering hecatombs of bulls or goats,
Or any other creature,—or with vests
Of cloth of gold or purple making brave
Their images, or with sheen of ivory,
Or graven jewels wrought with cunning hand,—
So to make Heaven well-pleased with him, he errs,
And hath a foolish heart. The gods have need
That man be good unto his fellow-men,
No unclean liver or adulterer,
Nor thief nor murderer from the lust of gain,
Nay, covet not so much as a needle's thread,
For One stands by, who sees and watches all."[2]
The same writer has quoted another line as from the Greek dramatist, referring to the purification required
