Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HIS REMEDIES AGAINST THE MISERIES OF MAN'S LIFE, by TIMOCLES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS REMEDIES AGAINST THE MISERIES OF MAN'S LIFE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Consider well this truth, for 'tis of use
Last Line: It may thy lesser ills alleviate.
Subject(s): Life


CONSIDER well this truth, for 'tis of use,
Nature did ne'er a thing like Man produce,
So charged with ills, from which so seldom free,
Sometimes his life's a scene of misery.

Nor human industry can respite gain
For his soul's anguish, or his body's pain,
But by reflecting what some men endure,
Which to himself may present ease procure,
And tales of what in former times was done,
Laid in the scale, and weigh'd against his own.

Art thou reduc'd to beg from door to door?
When Telephus was young he suffer'd more;
In woods expos'd, without relief he lay,
For some devouring beasts a royal prey;
If thou, with his, thy miseries compare,
Thou wilt confess he had the greatest share.

Have troubles turn'd thy brain to make thee rage?
Thoughts of Alcmaeon may thy griefs assuage;
By furies scourg'd, he mad, in torments died,
Yet justly suffer'd for his parricide.

Wert thou by chance, or made by others blind?
Call OEdipus the Theban King to mind;
Who quit his throne, himself of sight depriv'd,
Became more wretched still, the more he liv'd,
Till Sorrow brake his heart, which scarcely cou'd
Atone for incest, and his father's blood.

Thy son if dead, or was in battle slain?
A greater loss did Niobe sustain;
She saw her fourteen children slaughter'd lie,
A punishment for her IMPIETY,
Who great Latona's offspring had defied,
By whom, thus childless, drown'd in tears, she died.

On Philoctetes think, should'st thou be lame;
He, a most pow'rful Prince, endur'd the same;
To conquer Troy he show'd the Greeks a way,
To whom he did the fatal shafts betray;
His foot disclos'd the secret of his heart,
For which, that treach'rous foot endur'd the smart.

Hast thou thy life in ease and pleasure led,
Till Age contract thy nerves, and bow thy head?
Then, of thy greatest joy on earth, bereft,
O'erwhelm'd in Sorrow, and Despair, art left?

So old King OEneus lost his valiant son,
For slights himself had to Diana shown,
Slain by his mother when he had destroy'd
The Boar, which long his father's realm annoy'd:
Which actress in this mischief felt her share,
Herself becoming her own murderer.
The father, losing thus his son and wife,
Ended in cries and tears his wretched life.

Are Kings thus forc'd to yield to rig'rous Fate?
It may thy lesser ills alleviate.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net