'New nations wax strong, while the old are waning away; the generations of living things are changed within a brief space, and, like the runners in a race, pass on the torch of life'—
Augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur,
Inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum
Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt[56].
Man also must resign himself to the universal law, and accept his life not as a thing to be possessed for ever, but only to be used for a time—
Sic alid ex alio numquam desistet oriri
Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu[57].
Under this law of universal decay and restoration, we see the rains of heaven lost in the earth, but passing into new life in the fruits from which all living things are supported—
Hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum,