It were more thoroughly
false, it would incur danger of becoming true.
"Securus quo pes ferat, atque ex tempore _vivit_,"
is then the motto of a wise man. For first, as the subtle
discernment of the language would have taught us, with all his
negligence he is still secure; but the sluggard, notwithstanding
his heedlessness, is insecure.
The life of a wise man is most of all extemporaneous, for he
lives out of an eternity which includes all time. The cunning
mind travels further back than Zoroaster each instant, and comes
quite down to the present with its revelation. The utmost thrift
and industry of thinking give no man any stock in life; his
credit with the inner world is no better, his capital no larger.
He must try his fortune again to-day as yesterday. All questions
rely on the present for their solution. Time measures nothing
but itself. The word that is written may be postponed, but not
that on the lip. If this is what the occasion says, let the
occasion say it. All the world is forward to prompt him who gets
up to live without his creed in his pocket.
In the fifth satire, which is the best, I find, -
"Stat contra ratio, et secretam garrit in aurem,
Ne liceat facere id, quod quis vitiabit agendo."
Reason opposes, and whispers in the secret ear,
That it is not lawful to do that which one will spoil by doing.
