What of the man who
is not rich? You may well smile. He changes from garret to garret, from
bed to bed, from bath to bath and barber to barber, and is just as
seasick in a hired boat as the wealthy man on board his private yacht.
And not only are all men the victims of insatiable desire, but all are
alike subject to the uncertainties of fate. Insolent Fortune without
notice flutters her swift wings and leaves them. Friends prove
faithless, once the cask is drained to the lees. Death, unforeseen and
unexpected, lurks in ambush for them in a thousand places. Some are
swallowed up by the greedy sea. Some the Furies give to destruction in
the grim spectacle of war. Without respect of age or person, the ways of
death are thronged with young and old. Cruel Proserpina passes no man
by.
Even they who for the time escape the object of their dread must at last
face the inevitable. Invoked or not invoked, Death comes to release the
lowly from toil, and to strip the proud of power. The same night awaits
all; everyone must tread once for all the path of death. The summons is
delivered impartially at the hovels of the poor and the turreted palaces
of the rich.
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