icitus, nec
Jucundis fruitur dapibus, nec nocte quieta.
Ambitio hunc etiam impellens, _ad publica mittit_
_Munia_: dumque inhiat vano male sanus honori,
Invidiae atque odii patitur mala plurima: deinceps
_Obrepit canis rugosa senecta capillis_,
Secum multa trahens incommoda corporis atque
Mentis: nam _vires abeunt, speciesque colorque_,
Nec non _deficiunt sensus_: _audire, videre_
{384}
_Languescunt, gustusque minor fit_: denique semper
Aut hoc, aut illo morbo vexantur--_inermi_
_Manduntur vix ore cibi_, _vix crura bacillo_
_Sustentata meant_: animus quoque vulnera sentit.
_Desipit, et longo torpet confectus ab aevo_."

It would have only occupied your space needlessly, to have transcribed at
length the celebrated description of the seven ages of human life from
Shakspeare's _As You Like It_; but I would solicit the attention of your
readers to the Latin verses, and then to the question, Whether either poet
has borrowed from the other? and, should this be decided affirmatively, the
farther question would arise, Which is the original?

ARTERUS.

Dublin.

[These lines look like a modern paraphrase of Shakspeare; and our
Correspondent has not informed us from what book he has _transcribed_
them.--Ed.]

_Passage in "King John" and "Romeo and Juliet."_--I am neither a
commentator nor a reader of commentators on Shakspeare. When I meet with a
difficulty, I get over it as well as I can, and think no more of the
matter. Having, however, accidentally seen two passages of Shakspeare much
ventilated in "N. & Q.," I venture to give my poor conjectures respecting
them.

1. _King John._--

"It lies as sightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' _shows_ upon an ass."

I consider _shows_ to be the true reading; the reference being to the
ancient _mysteries_, called also _shows_. The machinery required for the
celebration of the mysteries was carried by _asses_. Hence the proverb:
"Asinus portat mysteriae." The connexion of Hercules--"great Alcides"--with
the mysteries, may be learned from Aristophanes and many other ancient
writers. And thus the meaning of the passage seems to be: The lion's skin,
which once belonged to Richard of the Lion Heart, is as sightly on the back
of _Austria_, as were the mysteries of Hercules upon an ass.

2. _Romeo and Juliet._--

"That runaways eyes may wink."

Here I would retain the reading, and interpret _runaways_ as signifying
"persons