My name, my country, what are they to thee?
What, whether proud or bare my pedigree?
Perhaps I far surpassed all other men;
Perhaps I fell below them all. What then?
Suffice it, stranger, that thou seest a tomb.
Thou knowest its use. It hides—no matter whom.

Translation of William Cowper.


RESIGNATION

Joannes Barbucallus (Sixth Century A.D.)

Gazing upon my husband as my last thread was spun, I praised the gods of death, and I praised the gods of marriage,—those, that I left my husband alive, and these, that he was even such an one; but may he remain, a father for our children.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


THE HOUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Macedonius (Sixth Century A.D.)