Cato's soliloquy on the immortality of the soul
It must be so - Plato, thou reasonest well!
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us:
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates Eternity to man.
2. Eternity! - thou pleasing dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass?
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me:
But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it.
Here I will hold. If there's a Power above us,
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud
through all her works) he must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in must be happy.
But when? Or where? This world was made for Cesar.
I'm weary of conjectures - this must end them.
[Laying his hand on his sword]
3. Thus I am doubly arm's, my death‡ and life,‖
My bane‡ and antidote‖ are both before me.
This‡ in a moment brings me to an end;
But this‖ informs me I shall never die.
The soul secur'd in her existence smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years:
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth:
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, the crush of worlds.
Comments