Then whilst his foe each gladiator foils, The atheist looking on enjoys the spoils. Through seas of knowledge we our course advance, Discov'ring still new worlds of ignorance; And these discov'ries make us all confess That sublunary science is but guess; Matters of fact to man are only known, And what seems more is mere opinion; 200 The standers-by see clearly this event; All parties say they're sure, yet all dissent; With their new light our bold inspectors press, Like Cham, to show their fathers' nakedness, By whose example after ages may Discover we more naked are than they; All human wisdom to divine is folly; This truth the wisest man made melancholy; Hope, or belief, or guess, gives some relief, But to be sure we are deceived brings grief: 210 Who thinks his wife is virtuous, though not so, Is pleased and patient till the truth he know. Our God, when heaven and earth he did create, Form'd man who should of both participate; If our lives' motions theirs must imitate, Our knowledge, like our blood, must circulate. When like a bridegroom from the east, the sun Sets forth, he thither, whence he came, doth run; Into earth's spongy veins the ocean sinks, Those rivers to replenish which he drinks; 220 So learning, which from reason's fountain springs, Back to the source some secret channel brings. 'Tis happy when our streams of knowledge flow To fill their banks, but not to overthrow. Ut metit Autumnus fruges quas parturit Aestas, Sic ortum Natura, dedit Deus his quoque finem. [1]'From thence': Gracia Major. [2] 'The name': Vates. [3] 'The tragedian': Seneca. ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF HENRY LORD HASTINGS, 1650.