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PYTHAGORAS, HIS MORAL RULES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: First to immortal god thy duty pay
Last Line: A deathless saint, no more shalt mortal be.
Subject(s): Pythagorus (580-500 B.c.)


FIRST to immortal God thy duty pay,
Observe thy vow, honour the saints: obey
Thy prince and rulers, nor their laws despise:
Thy parents reverence, and near allies:
Him that is first in virtue make thy friend;
And with observance his kind speech attend:
Nor, to thy power, for light faults cast him by;
Thy power is neighbour to necessity.
These know, and with intentive care pursue;
But Anger, Sloth, and Luxury subdue.
In sight of others, or thyself, forbear
What's ill; but of thyself stand most in fear.
Let Justice all thy words and actions sway,
Nor from the even course of reason stray;
For know that all men are to die ordain'd,
And riches are as quickly lost as gain'd.
Crosses that happen by divine decree,
If such thy lot, bear not impatiently.
Yet seek to remedy with all thy care,
And think the just have not the greatest share.
'Mongst men discourses good and bad are spread,
Despise not those, nor be by these misled.
If any some notorious falsehood say,
Thou the report with equal judgement weigh.
Let not men's smoother promises invite,
Nor rougher threats from just resolves thee fright.
If ought thou wouldst attempt, first ponder it,
Fools only inconsiderate acts commit.
Nor do what afterward thou mayst repent,
First learn to know the thing on which th' art bent.
Thus thou a life shalt lead with joy replete.
Nor must thou care of outward health forget;
Such temperance use in exercise and diet,
As may preserve thee in a settled quiet.
Meats unprohibited, not curious, choose,
Decline what any other may accuse:
The rash expense of vanity detest,
And sordidness: a mean in all is best.
Hurt not thyself; act nought thou dost not weigh;
And every business of the following day
As soon as by the morn awak'd, dispose;
Nor suffer sleep at night thy eyes to close,
Till thrice that diary thou hast o'errun;
How slipt? what deeds, what duty left undone?
Thus thy account summ'd up from first to last,
Grieve for the ill, joy for what good hath past.
These, if thou study, practise, and affect,
To sacred Virtue will thy steps direct.
Nature's eternal fountain I attest,
Who did the soul with fourfold power invest.
Ere thou begin, pray well thy work may end,
Then shall thy knowledge to all things extend,
Divine and human; where enlarg'd, restrain'd;
How Nature is by general likeness chain'd.
Vain Hope nor Ignorance shall dim thy sight:
Then shalt thou see that hapless men invite
Their ills; to good, though present, deaf and blind;
And few the cure of their misfortunes find:
This only is the fate that harms, and rolls,
Through miseries successive, human souls.
Within is a continual hidden fight,
Which we to shun must study, not excite:
Good God! how little trouble should we know,
If thou to all men wouldst their genius show!
But fear not thou; men come of heav'nly race,
Taught by diviner Nature what t' embrace;
Which, if pursued, thou all I nam'd shalt gain,
And keep thy soul clear from thy body's stain:
In time of prayer and cleansing meats denied
Abstain from; thy mind's reins let reason guide:
Then rais'd to Heaven, thou from thy body free,
A deathless saint, no more shalt mortal be.





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