Classic Poem

Whatever course of Life great Jove allots,
Whether you sit on thrones, or dwell in cots,
Observe your steps; be carefull to command
Your passions; guide the reins with steady hand,
Nor down steep cliffs precipitately move
Urg'd headlong on by hatred or by love:
Let Reason with superior force controul
The floods of rage, and calm thy rufled soul.
Rashness! thou spring from whence misfortunes flow!
Parent of ills! and source of all our woe!
Thou to a scene of bloodshed turn'st the Ball,
By thee wholl citys burn, wholl nations fall!
By thee Orestes plung'd his vengefull dart
Into his supplicating mothers heart.
Hurry'd to death by thee, Flaminius fell,
And crowds of godlike Romans sunk to hell.
But cautious Fabius from impending fate
Preserv'd the reliques of the Latian state
From bold invaders clear'd th'Italian lands
And drove the swarthy troops to their own barren sands.