Thou askest, if (my soul thus in men's hearts)

I must not be accounted to attain

The very crown and proper end of life?

Inquiring thence how, now life closeth up,

I face death with success in my right hand:

Whether I fear death less than dost thyself

The fortunate of men? "For" (writest thou)

"Thou leavest much behind, while I leave naught.

Thy life stays in the poems men shall sing,

The pictures men shall study; while my life,