ii DEATH UNIVERSAL 227 



greater folly than to stand in fear of the earth s 6 

 tottering and the sudden fall of mountains, or inroads 

 of the sea cast up beyond the shore, when death 

 is everywhere present and meets us on every side ? 

 Nothing is so small as not to be strong enough 

 to compass the destruction of the human race. 

 Great or unusual dangers ought not to unnerve us, 

 as if they implied more mischief than a common 

 death ; nay, rather when one must quit the world 

 and at last resign life, it should be a positive joy to 

 perish by some grand cause. Die we must some- 7 

 where, sometime. The ground you tread may stand 

 firm, it may confine itself within its own bounds and 

 not be tossed about by any violence ; yet some day 

 I shall be beneath it. Does it really matter, then, 

 whether I place it on myself or itself do ? It is rent 

 by the irresistible force of some disaster ; it bursts 

 and draws me into its immense depths. What 

 then ? Is death easier on the earth s level surface ? 

 What reason for complaint have I if nature will not 

 have me lie in a place unknown to fame ? or if she 

 lays on me a portion of herself? My friend, 8 

 Vagellius, 1 in that famous poem of his, says finely: 



If fall I must, I should desire to fall from the height of heaven, 2 



We may adopt the language. If fall I must, let the 

 earth be shaken at my fall ; not that one ought to 

 pray for a public disaster, but it is a great solace 

 of death to see that the earth is likewise subject to 

 death. 



1 The name is doubtful, as is, indeed, the quotation also. 



2 The sense may be : I would have the heavens fall along with me ; this 

 meaning would suit the context better. 



