Now here, now there, the wild waves sweep,
       Whilst we, betwixt them o’er the deep,
       In shatter’d tempest-beaten bark,
     With laboring ropes are onward driven,
       The billows dashing o’er our dark
     Upheaved deck—­in tatters riven
       Our sails—­whose yawning rents between
       The raging sea and sky are seen.

. . . . .

     Loose from their hold our anchors burst,
       And then the third, the fatal wave
     Comes rolling onward like the first,
       And doubles all our toil to save.

Translation of Sir William Jones.

     THE POOR FISHERMAN

     The fisher Diotimus had, at sea
       And shore, the same abode of poverty—­
       His trusty boat;—­and when his days were spent,
     Therein self-rowed to ruthless Dis he went;
     For that, which did through life his woes beguile,
     Supplied the old man with a funeral pile.

Translation of Sir William Jones.

THE STATE

What constitutes a State? 
Not high-raised battlement, or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown’d;
No:—­Men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:—­
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain;
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain.

Translation of Sir William Jones.

     POVERTY

     The worst of ills, and hardest to endure,
          Past hope, past cure,
       Is Penury, who, with her sister-mate
     Disorder, soon brings down the loftiest state,
          And makes it desolate. 
       This truth the sage of Sparta told,
          Aristodemus old,—­
       “Wealth makes the man.”  On him that’s poor,
     Proud worth looks down, and honor shuts the door.

Translation of Sir William Jones.

BALTAZAR DE ALCAZAR

(1530?-1606)

Although little may be realized now of Alcazar’s shadowy personality, there is no doubt that in his own century he was widely read.  Born of a very respectable family in Seville, either in 1530 or 1531, he first appears as entering the Spanish navy, and participating in several battles on the war galleys of the Marquis of Santa Cruz.  It is known that for about twenty years he was alcalde or mayor at the Molares on the outskirts of Utrera,—­an important local functionary, a practical man interested in public affairs.