AR. Were they not mortal, sweet, I coud not kill them. They kill each other in their lust for life; 151 Nay, cruelly persecute their blemisht kin: And they that thus are exiled from the herd Slink heart-brok'n to sepulchral solitudes, Defenceless and dishonour'd; there to fall Prey to the hungry glutton of the cave, Or stand in mute pain lingering, till they drop In their last lair upon the ancestral bones. PER. What is it that offends me? ATH. 'Tis Pity, child, The mortal thought that clouds the brow of man 160 With dark reserve, or poisoning all delite Drives him upon his knees in tearful prayer To avert his momentary qualms: till Zeus At his reiterated plaint grows wrath, And burdens with fresh curse the curse of care. And they that haunt with men are apt to take Infection of his mind: thy mighty mother Leans to his tenderness. PER. How should man, dwelling On earth that is so gay, himself be sad? Is not earth gay? Look on the sea, the sky, 170 The flowers! ATH. 'Tis sad to him because 'tis gay.-- For whether he consider how the flowers, --Thy miracles of beauty above praise,-- Are wither'd in the moment of their glory, So that of all the mounting summer's wealth The show is chang'd each day, and each day dies, Of no more count in Nature's estimate Than crowded bubbles of the fighting foam: Or whether 'tis the sea, whose azure waves Play'd in the same infinity of motion 180 Ages ere he beheld it, and will play For ages after him;--alike 'tis sad To read how beauty dies and he must die. PER. Were I a man, I would not worship thee, Thou cold essential wisdom. If, as thou say'st, Thought makes men sorrowful, why help his thought To quench enjoyment, who might else as I Revel among bright things, and feast his sense With beauty well-discern'd? Nay, why came ye To share my pastime? Ye love not the flowers. 190 ATH. Indeed I love thee, child; and love thy flowers,-- Nor less for loving wisely. All emotions, Whether of gods or men, all loves and passions, Are of two kinds; they are either inform'd by wisdom, To reason obedient,--or they are unconducted, Flames of the burning life. The brutes of earth And Pan their master know these last; the first Are seen in me: betwixt the extremes there lie Innumerable alloys and all of evil.