Urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae.[467]—
and again, the life, truth, and tenderness of the picture presented in the lines—
Iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor
Optima nec dulces occurrent oscula nati
Praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent,[468]
bring home to the mind, in startling distinctness, the old familiar contrast between the 'cold obstruction' of the grave and 'the warm precincts of the cheerful day.' But the horror and pain of the thought of death are lost in a feeling of august resignation to the universal law. Though the fact is made present to our minds in its sternest reality, yet it is encompassed with the pomp and majesty of great associations. It suggests the thought of the most momentous crisis in history—
Ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis,[469]
of the regal state of kings and emperors—
Inde alii multi reges rerumque potentes