Horace, Odes, ii. 10.
The general tenor of the closing lines recalls Horace's treatment of the same theme in Sat. ii. 2. 88, 125, more than either Juvenal, Sat. ix, or Persius, Sat. vi.
Grosart states that 'means, then as now, meant riches, possessions, but never the mean or middle'. But see O.E.D., which quotes for the plural in this sense: 'Tempering goodly well Their contrary dislikes with loved means.' Spenser, Hymns. In the singular Bacon has, 'But to speake in a Meane.' Of Adversitie.
Page 154. Satyre III.
Page 155, l. 19. leaders rage. This phrase might tempt one to date the poem after the Cadiz expedition and Islands voyage, in both of which 'leaders' rage', i.e. the quarrels of Howard and Essex, and of Essex and Raleigh, militated against success; but it is too little to build upon. Donne may mean simply the arbitrary exercise of arbitrary power on the part of leaders.
ll. 30-2. who made thee to stand Sentinell, &c. 'Souldier' is the reading of what is perhaps the older version of the Satyres. It would do as well: 'Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus retinendus est animus in custodia corporis; nec iniussu eius a quo ille est vobis datus ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus assignatum a Deo defugisse videamini.' Cicero, Somnium Scipionis.
'Veteres quidem philosophiae principes, Pythagoras et Plotinus, prohibitionis huius non tam creatores sunt quam praecones, omnino illicitum esse dicentes quempiam militiae servientem a praesidio et commissa sibi statione discedere contra ducis vel principis iussum. Plane eleganti exemplo usi sunt eo quod militia est vita hominis super terram.' John of Salisbury, Policrat. ii. 27.
Donne considers the rashness of those whom he refers to as a degree of, an approach to, suicide. To expose ourselves to these perils we abandon the moral warfare to which we are appointed. In his own work on suicide (ΒΙΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ, &c.) Donne discusses the permissible approaches to suicide. An unpublished Problem shows his knowledge of John of Salisbury.
ll. 33-4. Know thy foes, &c. I have followed the better MSS. here against 1633 and L74, N, TCD. The dropping of 's' after 'foe' has probably led to the attempt to regularize the construction by interjecting 'h'is'. Donne has three foes in view—the devil, the world, and the flesh.