The Plague of Athens, which hapned in the second year of the Peloponnesian Warre · Thomas Sprat
II.
Nor is this all, we do not onely breed Within our selves the fatal seed Of change, and of decrease in ev’ry part, Head, Bellie, Stomach, and the Root of Life the Heart, Not onely have our Autumn, when we must Of our own Nature turn to Dust, When Leaves and Fruit must fall; But are expos’d to mighty Tempests too, Which do at once what that would slowlie do, Which throw down Fruit and Tree of Life withal. From ruine we in vain Our bodies by repair maintain, Bodies compos’d of stuff, Mouldring and frail enough; Yet from without as well we fear A dangerous and destructful War, From Heaven, from Earth, from Sea, from Air. We like the _Roman Empire_ should decay, And our own force would melt away By the intestine jar Of Elephants, which on each other prey, The _Cæsars_ and the _Pompeys_ which within we bear: Yet are (like that) in danger too Of forreign Armies, and external foe, Sometimes the _Gothish_ and the barbarous rage Of Plague, or Pestilence, attends Mans age, Which neither Force nor Arts asswage; Which cannot be avoided, or withstood, But drowns, and over-runs with unexpected Flood.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.