The Tragedies of Seneca / Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

From that grim spindle of the Fates.

Whate'er we mortals suffer here,

Whate'er we do, all hath its birth

In that deep realm of mystery.

Stern Lachesis her distaff whirls,985

Spinning the threads of mortal men,

But with no backward-turning hand.

All things in ordered pathways go;

And on our natal day was fixed

Our day of death. Not God himself