HORACE: CHORUS AT THE END OF ACT 5 by PIERRE CORNEILLE

THUS Heav'n doth his will disguise,
To scourge our curiosities,
When too inquisitive we grow
Of what we are forbid to know.
Fond human nature that will try
To sound the abyss of Destiny!
Alas! what profit can arise
From those forbidden scrutinies,
When oracles what they foretell
In such enigmas still conceal,
That self-indulging man still makes
Of deepest truths most sad mistakes!
Or could our frailty comprehend
The reach those riddles do intend:
What boots it us when we have done
To foresee ills we cannot shun?
But 'tis in man a vain pretence
To know or prophesy events,
Which only execute, and move,
By a dependence from above.
'Tis all imposture to deceive
The foolish and inquisitive,
Since none foresee what shall befall
But Providence that governs all.
Reason wherewith kind Heav'n has blest
His creature man above the rest,
Will teach humanity to know
All that it should aspire unto;
And whatsoever fool relies
On false deceiving prophecies,
Striving by conduct to evade
The harms they threaten, or persuade,
Too frequently himself does run
Into the danger he would shun,
And pulls upon himself the woe
Fate meant he should much later know.
By such delusions virtue strays
Out of those honourable ways
That lead unto that glorious end,
To which the noble ever bend.
Whereas if virtue were the guide,
Men's minds would then be justified
With constancy, that would declare
Against supineness, and despair.
We should events with patience wait,
And not despise, nor fear our Fate.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...