And gifted spirits, who have studied long

That loathsome volume—man, and pored upon

Those black and bloody leaves, his heart and brain,[bf]

But learn a magic which recoils upon

The adept who pursues it: all the sins

We find in others, Nature made our own;

All our advantages are those of Fortune;340

Birth, wealth, health, beauty, are her accidents,

And when we cry out against Fate, 'twere well

We should remember Fortune can take nought