Vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut æquum est,
Cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum."
Lucret. De Rer. Nat., v. 223.
For the benefit of the lady-readers of "N. & Q." I subjoin a translation of these beautiful lines of Lucretius:
"The infant, as soon as Nature with great pangs of travail hath sent it forth from the womb of its mother into the regions of light, lies, like a sailor cast out from the waves, naked upon the earth in utter want and helplessness; and fills every place around with mournful wailings and piteous lamentation, as is natural for one who has so many ills of life in store for him, so many evils which he must pass through and suffer."
"Thou must be patient: we came crying hither;
Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,
We wawle and cry—
When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools."—Shakspeare's Lear.