"Being brought into life is just like being invited to a feast from
which you may be called away at any minute. Well, if you have eaten
and drunk to satiety you will be only too glad to get up and go away
and sleep. But if you have sat at the table, hungering all the time
and repressing yourself, then, when the sudden call comes, and you
must rise and leave it for ever, think what a misery and bitterness
to be dragged away from the brilliant table, with all its dishes and
its wines untasted, its flowers unsmelt, and be crammed away into
the darkness--hungry, thirsty, and unsatisfied. Take my word for it,
Vic, you'll have a bad five minutes on your deathbed!"
I listened in silence. I felt ill and dispirited and disinclined for
talk.
"That's all Horace. I don't care much about Latin as a whole, but I
do think he is splendid. I'd have that book made the general
testament. I'd have it taught in all the Board Schools and sworn on
in the Law Courts. I'd have every fellow take it as a guide through
life; if he really acts up to it, it ensures his happiness. Its
philosophy beats all the religions hollow. ' Take the day.' 'Put no
trust in to-morrow.' ' Seek not to know the future; whatever it is,
bear it.' 'Each night be able to say I have lived.' 'Retire from
life, satisfied, as from a banquet.' And so on ad lib.
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