The Lantern

The Preparation of the Gospel · BOOK 531

CCEL

CHAPTER XXX

'FOR twenty days before the Dog-star rise,

And twenty days that follow next thereon,

In shady bower let Bacchus be thy leech:'

'A medical and not a prophetical answer given to the Athenians when troubled by the burning heat.

"Grandson of Presbon, son of Clymenus,

Thyself, Erginus, would'st the race prolong:

'Tis late; yet give the old plough a new tip."

'For a young woman to be wedded to an old man, if he desires children, this is the advice not of a prophet, but of one who understands nature. Desire, however, sets the weaklings beside themselves.'