The power of truthful moral painting which Lucretius exercises is seen in that passage in which he reveals the secret of the 'amari aliquit' 'amid the very flowers of love,'—
Aut cum conscius ipse animus se forte remordet
Desidiose agere aetatem lustrisque perire,
Aut quod in ambiguo verbum iaculata reliquit
Quod cupido adfixum cordi vivescit ut ignis,
Aut nimium iactate oculos aliumve tueri
Quod putat in voltuque videt vestigia risus:[486]
and in that in which he describes the satiety and restlessness which are the avenging nemesis of an opulent and luxurious society,—
Exit saepe foras magnis ex aedibus ille,
Esse domi quem pertaesumst, subitoque revertit,