Nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis In tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus Interdum, nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam Quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura. Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest Non radii solis neque lucida tela diei Discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque. And so forth, down to the exquisite lines-- "Jam jam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxoi Optima nec dulces occurrent oscula nati Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent. Non poteris factis florentibus esse, tuisque Praesidium. Misero misere," aiunt, "omnia ademit Una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae." Illud in his rebus non addunt, "nec tibi earum Jam desiderium rerum super insidet una." Quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur, Dissolvant animi magno se angore metuque. "Tu quidem ut es leto sopitus, sic eris aevi Quod superest cunctis privatu' doloribus aegris: At nos horrifico cinefactum te prope busto Insatiabiliter deflevimus, aeternumque Nulla dies nobis maerorem e pectore demet." Illud ab hoc igitur quaerendum est, quid sit amari Tanto opere, ad somnum si res redit atque quietem, Cur quisquam aeterno possit tabescere luctu. We may regret that Holbach, in dealing with these solemn and touching things, should have been so devoid of historic spirit as to buffet David, Mahomet, Chrysostom, and other holy personages, as superstitious brigands. And we may believe that he has certainly been too sweeping in denying any deterrent efficacy whatever to the fires of hell. But where Holbach found one person in 1770, he would find a thousand in 1880, to agree with him, that it is possible to think of commendations and inducements to virtue, that shall be at least as efficacious as the fiction of eternal torment, without being as cruel, as wicked, as infamous to the gods, and as degrading to men.