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قراءة كتاب The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and Women
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The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and Women
THE
LAST WORDS OF DISTINGUISHED
MEN AND WOMEN
THE LAST WORDS
(REAL AND TRADITIONAL)
OF DISTINGUISHED
MEN AND WOMEN
COLLECTED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
BY
FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN
Enforce attention like deep harmony;
Where words are scarce they're seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
—Shakspeare
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
1901
Copyright 1901
by
Frederic Rowland Marvin
(June)
To my Wife
this Book is most Lovingly
Dedicated
Neither is there anything of which I am so inquisitive, and delight to inform myself, as the manner of men's deaths, their words, looks, and bearing; nor any places in history I am so intent upon; and it is manifest enough, by my crowding in examples of this kind, that I have a particular fancy for that subject. If I were a writer of books, I would compile a register, with a comment, of the various deaths of men: he who should teach men to die, would at the same time teach them to live.—Montaigne.
Last Words of Distinguished Men and Women.
Adam (Alexander, Dr., headmaster at the High School in Edinburgh, and the author of "Roman Antiquities"), 1741-1809. "It grows dark, boys. You may go."
(Thus the master gently said,
Just before, in accents low,
Circling friends moaned, "He is dead.")
Tells the school's dismissal hour,
Deeming not that he alone
Deals with evening's dark'ning power.
Taught by him in light to grow;
Light withdrawn, and hushed the noise,
Fall the passwords, "You may go."
Weary is the book-worn brain:
Day sinks idly in the west,
Tired of glory, tired of gain.
O'er the twilight, to and fro;
Dusk is lost in shadows deep:
It grows dark, boys. You may go.
Mary B. Dodge.
Abd-er-Rahman III. (surnamed An-Nâsir-Lideen-Illah or Lidinillah, that is to say, "the defender of the religion of God," eighth Sultan and first Caliph of Córdova. Under Abd-er-Rahman III. the Mohammedan empire in Spain attained the height of its glory), 886-961. "Fifty years have passed since I became Caliph. Riches, honors, pleasures—I have enjoyed all. In this long time of seeming happiness I have numbered the days on which I have been happy. Fourteen." Though these sad words correctly express the spirit of the man who is reported to have spoken them, they are purely traditional.
Adams (John, second President of the United States), 1735-1826. "Independence forever!"
He died on the Fourth of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; and it is thought that his last words were suggested by the noise of the celebration. Some say his last words were, "Jefferson survives;" if so, he was mistaken, for Jefferson passed away at an earlier hour the same day.
Adams (John Quincy, sixth President of the United States), 1767-1848. "It is the last of earth! I am content!" On the twenty-first of February, 1848, while in his seat in the Capitol, he was struck with paralysis, and died two days later.
Addison (Joseph, poet and essayist), 1672-1719. "See in what peace a Christian can die!" These words were addressed to Lord Warwick, an accomplished but dissolute youth, to whom Addison was nearly related.
Adrian or Hadrian (Publius Ælius, the Roman Emperor), 76-138. "O my poor soul, whither art thou going?"
Adrian wrote both in Greek and Latin. Among his Latin poems (preserved by Spartianus, who wrote his life), are these lines addressed to his own soul:
Hospes comesque corporis,
Quæ nunc abibis in loca?
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos.
Thou and this body were house-mates together;
Wilt thou begone now, and whither?
Pallid, and naked, and cold;
Not to laugh, nor be glad, as of old.
Adrian is known in history as one of the greatest of the Roman Emperors. It is hardly too much to say that, by his progress through all the provinces and his policy of peace, he was the consolidater of the empire founded a century and a half before by Augustus. He was the author of the Roman Wall between England and Scotland; he beautified the city of Athens; he founded the modern Adrianople; he built for his own mausoleum what is now the Castle of St. Anglo at Rome. He was also a patron of the fine arts and of literature.
Of the famous lines, "The Dying Adrian's Address to His Soul," no fewer than one hundred and sixteen translations into English have been collected, the translators including Pope, Prior, Byron, Dean Merivale, and the late Earl of Carnarvon. It should be added that Pope's familiar version, beginning "Vital spark of heav'nly flame," is a paraphrase rather than a translation. I quote Prior's version:
Must we no longer live together?
And dost thou prune thy trembling wing,
To take thy flight thou know'st not whither?