HEALTH AS A DUTY 



failure; and the few decisive moments in 

 life, which determine the weal or the woe 

 of it, its success or failure, are each strenu- 

 ous like a foot-race, calling for infinite lung 

 and heart power and omnipotent nerve. 

 Such a man is described in the ode of Hor- 

 ace beginning "Justum et tenacem propositi 

 virum" 



"Not the rough tempest that deforms 



Adria's black gulf and vexes it with storms 



The tranquil temper of his soul can move, 



Not the red arm of angry Jove, 



That flings the thunder through the sky 



And gives it rage to roar and strength to fly. 



Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, 



In ruin and confusion hurled, 



He unconcerned would hear the mighty crack 



And stand serene amid a falling world."* 



The greatest of all life's crises is the one 

 which ends life, and that, like all the tugs 

 of war before, is aptest to be bravely met by 

 him whose spirit has been buttressed upon 

 a sound physique. As protested in the last 

 lines of Browning's "Prospice," 



* Addison's translation 



97 



