Page 336

Alexander Pope. (1688–1744) (continued)

3633

A brave man struggling in the storms of fate,
And greatly falling with a falling state.
While Cato gives his little senate laws,
What bosom beats not in his country’s cause?

Prologue to Mr. Addison’s Cato.

3634

The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole
Can never be a mouse of any soul. 1

The Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. Line 298.

3635

Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.

The Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. Line 369.

3636

You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come;
Knock as you please, there ’s nobody at home. 2

Epigram.

3637

For he lives twice who can at once employ
The present well, and e’en the past enjoy. 3

Imitation of Martial.

3638

Who dared to love their country, and be poor.

On his Grotto at Twickenham.

3639

Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few. 4

Thoughts on Various Subjects.

3640

I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another’s misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.

Thoughts on Various Subjects.

3641

Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing!

The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 1.

Note 1.
See Chaucer, Quotation 30. Herbert, Quotation 30. [back]

Note 2.
His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock, it never is at home.
William Cowper: Conversation, line 303. [back]

Note 3.
Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est
Vivere bis vita posse priore frui
(The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one’s past life is to live twice).—Martial, x. 237.

See Cowley, Quotation 21. [back]

Note 4.
From Roscoe’s edition of Pope, vol. v. p. 376; originally printed in Motte’s “Miscellanies,” 1727. In the edition of 1736 Pope says, “I must own that the prose part (the Thought on Various Subjects), at the end of the second volume, was wholly mine. January, 1734.” [back]

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