rawing thee
to divers parts, in the plight thou art now, the more forcible remedies
cannot be applied unto thee; wherefore, for a while, we will use the
more easy, that thy affections, which are, as it were, hardened and
swollen with perturbations, may by gentle handling be mollified and
disposed to receive the force of sharper medicines.

[98] Hom. _Il._ ii. 204.

[99] Cf. Cicero, _Pro domo sua_. 29. 77.

VI.

Cum Phoebi radiis graue
Cancri sidus inaestuat,
Tum qui larga negantibus
Sulcis semina credidit,
Elusus Cereris fide 5
Quernas pergat ad arbores.
Numquam purpureum nemus
Lecturus uiolas petas
Cum saeuis aquilonibus
Stridens campus inhorruit, 10
Nec quaeras auida manu
Vernos stringere palmites,
Vuis si libeat frui;
Autumno potius sua
Bacchus munera contulit. 15
Signat tempora propriis
Aptans officiis deus
Nec quas ipse coercuit
Misceri patitur uices.
Sic quod praecipiti uia 20
Certum deserit ordinem
Laetos non habet exitus.

VI.

When hot with Phoebus' beams
The Crab casts fiery gleams,
He that doth then with seed
Th'unwilling furrows feed,
Deceived of his bread
Must be with acorns fed.
Seek not the flowery woods
For violets' sweet buds,
When fields are overcast
With the fierce northern blast,
Nor hope thou home to bring
Vine-clusters in the Spring
If thou in grapes delight:
In autumn Bacchus' might
With them doth deck our clime.
God every several time
With proper grace hath crowned
Nor will those laws confound
Which He once settled hath.
He that with headlong path
This certain order leaves,
An hapless end receives.

VI.

Primum igitur paterisne me pauculis rogationibus statum tuae mentis
attingere atque temptare, ut qui modus sit tuae curationis intellegam?" "Tu
uero arbitratu," inquam, "tuo quae uoles ut responsurum rogato." Tum illa:
"Huncine," inquit, "mundum temerariis agi fortuitisque casibus putas, an
ullum credis ei regimen inesse rationis?" "Atqui," inquam, "nullo
existimauerim modo ut fortuita temeritate tam certa moueantur, uerum operi
suo conditorem praesidere deum scio nec umquam fuerit dies qui me ab hac
sententiae ueritate depellat."

"Ita est," inquit. "Nam id etiam paulo ante cecinisti, homi