Manibus date lilia plenis.

THOSE Whom the Gods love die young.

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads who wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran,
And the name died before the man.

A. E. HOUSMAN

BUT

God's Chosen

UT though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time,

Nor that is measured by number of years:

But wisdom is the gray hair unto men,

And an unspotted life is old age.

He pleased God, and was beloved of Him:
So that living among sinners he was translated.
Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wicked-
ness should alter his understanding,

Or deceit beguile his soul.

He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

For his soul pleased the Lord..

This the people saw, and understood it not,
Neither laid they up this in their minds,
That His grace and mercy is with His saints,
And that He hath respect unto His chosen.

Wisdom of Solomon

THE STORY OF CLEOBIS AND BITON

IN

The Story of Cleobis and Biton

that the hour was

N the kingdom of Argos there lived two brothers, Cleobis and Biton-young men, well to do, and withal of great strength of body, so that each had been a victor in the public games. Now once, when the Argives were keeping a festival of the goddess Hera, their mother had need to be drawn to the temple in a chariot, but the oxen did not come from the field in time. The young men, therefore, seeing late, put the yoke on their own necks and drew the car in which their mother sat, and brought her to the temple, which was forty-five stades away. This they did in the sight of the assembled people; and the men commended their strength, while the women called her blessed to be the mother of such sons. But she, overjoyed at the deed and its renown, entered the temple and standing before the image of Hera, prayed the goddess to grant to Cleobis and Biton, her two sons, the greatest boon which could fall to man. After she had prayed, and they had sacrificed and eaten of the feast, the young men sat down in the temple and fell asleep, and never awoke again, but so made an end with life. In this manner the blessing came to them; and the men of Argos caused statues of them to be made and dedicated at Delphi, for a memorial of their piety.

HERODOTUS

THE PREDESTINED

THEY

The Predestined

HEY are strange. As children, life seems nearer to them than to other children; they appear to suspect nothing, and yet is there in their eyes so profound a certainty that we feel they must know all, that there must have been evenings when they found time to tell themselves their secret. At the moment when their brothers are still groping their way blindly in the mysterious land between birth and life, they have already understood; they are erect, ready with hand and soul. In all haste, but wisely and with minute care, do they prepare themselves to live; and this very haste is a sign upon which mothers, the discreet unsuspected confidants of all that cannot be told, can scarce bring themselves to look.

Their stay among us is often so short that we are unconscious of their presence; they go away without saying a word, and are for ever unknown to us. But others there are who linger for a moment, who look at us with an eager smile, and seem to be on the point of confessing that they know all; and then, towards their twentieth year, they leave us, hurriedly, muffling their footsteps, as though they had just discovered that they had chosen the wrong dwelling-place, and had been about to pass their lives among men whom they did not know. . .

...

I have known many whom the same death was leading by the hand, and when my memory dwells upon them I see a band of children, of youths and

THE OLD MARGATE HOY

maidens, who seem to be all coming forth from the same house. A strange fraternity unites them: it may be that they recognise each other by birthmarks we cannot discover, that they furtively exchange solemn signals of silence. They are the eager children of precocious death. At school we were vaguely conscious of them. They seemed to be at the same time seeking and avoiding each other, like people who are afflicted with the same infirmity. They were to be seen together, in remote corners of the garden, under the trees. Their mysterious smile flew fitfully across their lips, and there lurked a gravity beneath, a curious fear lest a secret should escape. Silence would almost always fall upon them when those who were to live drew near. Were they already speaking of the event, or did they know that the event was speaking through them, and in their despite? Were they forming a circle round it, and trying to keep it hidden from indifferent eyes?

ALL

MAURICE MAETERLINCK

The Old Margate Hoy

LL this time sat upon the edge of the deck quite a different character. It was a lad, apparently very poor, very infirm, and very patient. His eye was ever on the sea, with a smile: and if he caught now and then some snatches of these wild legends, it was by accident, and they seemed not to concern him. The waves to him whispered more pleasant stories. He was as one, being with us, but not of us. He heard