Retreating is not running away, nor is staying wisdom when the danger overbalances the hope; and it is the part of wise men to secure themselves to-day for to-morrow, and not to venture all upon one throw.
The wicked are always ungrateful.
Necessity urges desperate measures.
sonnet.
Know'st thou, O love, the pangs that I sustain, Or, cruel, dost thou view those pangs unmov'd? Or has some hidden cause its influence proved, By all this sad variety of pain?
Love is a god, then surely he must know, And knowing, pity wretchedness like mine; From other hands proceeds the fatal blow— Is then the deed, unpitying Chloe, thine?
Ah, no! a form so exquisitely fair A soul so merciless can ne'er enclose. From Heaven's high will my fate resistless flows, And I, submissive, must its vengeance bear. Nought but a miracle my life can save, And snatch its destined victim from the grave.