SUN-DIAL INSCRIPTIONS.
Sine sole sileo.
(Without sunlight I give no information.)
Scis horas; nescis horam.
(You know the hours; you know not the hour [of death].)
Afflictis lentæ, celeres gaudentibus horæ.
(The hours pass slowly for the afflicted, rapidly for the joyous.)
Vado e vegno giorno;
Ma tu andrai senza ritorno.
(I go and come every day;
But thou shalt go without return.)
May the dread book at our last trial,
When open spread, be like this dial;
May Heaven forbear to mark therein
The hours made dark by deeds of sin;
Those only in that record write
Which virtue like the sun makes bright.
If o’er the dial glides a shade, redeem
The time, for lo! it passes like a dream;
But if ’tis all a blank, then mark the loss
Of hours unblest by shadows from the cross.