Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-05-27
FEATs OF THE AGED.

More than sixty years had .tlrncd their backs
upon Bacon aud Leibn,z and Locke. more than
seventy upon Kant and Reid when theft most me.
mortal writings were begun. But these were phis
losophcrs. ] win remember then, that the sun
VI more than thrcescorc summers was shining
the darkcncd eyes Of Milton when his Sampson
Agonistes, and the great sequel TO the greatest
sacred epic of our language and OF modern times
sprung to light. St. Augusunc revised for circu-
lation the works that amaze modern schoIhrshiH
with the profound nricacics Of their subjects aid
the huge volumes Of their contents, when he was
sevcnty-three years old. Cassiolurus, statesman
before he came m0nastic, was nnety-three when
his iavoritc study Of Language fotnd him stil effi
ployed with his pen. The most learned Of Romans,
Narro, was m Octogenariau when he wrote his
treatise on Farming; and best Of all |, was dedi-
Gated to Fundana, his wife, ut whose instance II
was composed. The most ilustrous scourger Of
Roman dcgcncracy, Juyenal, was but little short
of that age. when his thirteenth and fifteenth sn
tires showed that nothing Of the former ygor ot
skill was lost. Srnlo, the prince Of Grccinn go
ographers, was still further advanced when Lis
folics were FIRST taken in hand. Aristobulas one
Of the generals of Alexander the Great made it
the amusement Of his eighty fourth year TO write
the history Of his young commander. Plato was La
boring chcerhlly upon his books Of the Laws, at
u period of life when the nineteenth Psalm; if he
could have read IL, in its untranslatcd Hebrew,
would have pointed its grim text at him but in
vain. Sophoccs the warrior dramatist wrote his
"(Epidus Mt Coonus" at the age of ninety; and
the critics who find it somewhat tanner than his
"(Epidus Kfug," find only the ndturGl difference
between palace and cottage scene, and betweeR
the Theban hero himself in his martial and his
secluded days. There is nothing in the piece thaf
is unworthy Of its authors fame. Isocrates, Mil.
toms "oll man eloquent" spanned almost CEN
tury and kept his reputation to the last AT the
agc ot eghty-two he composed the mastery ora
tion in which be defended his profession against
the aspcrsi0ns of Plato. Then there wrs Theca
phastrus the disciple, friend and succ5saSf Of "the
mighty Stagir,c," to whom that most really phil
osnphic mind of the Grccian world committed his
writings. lie was n scholar and a teacher, and
something better than that, man Of great public
and private service. Tradition assigns TO him an
age further advanced than can be soberly believed
in and whom lie left the world, it was not as IL
delivered from prison, but taking reluctant
farewell Of the light lie chided with nature,
Cicero tells US tha5 she Should bestow protracted
existence upon tho stag and crow, who did noe
need it, md withhold il from man, who could CON
tnually bring so much to pass. He complained
that when he was just beginning TO see things as
they were, he should he "extinguished." Doubt
less he was unreasonable in that complaint, and
doubtless he was in error when he supposed that
human improvement would be advGrcsd by the
further extension of the term Of human life. But
who can help admiring TIC courageous manhood
that could express itself in such words as hist
And who will refuse to bless that nature with
which he found fault, that she has made it possible
to carry our poor faculties here on earth so far
and so well?
Examples such now come to my mind might
be multiplied to almost any extent, by those who
would make this subject one Of special research.
| have no purpose in pursuing Il eten so lar as
this, but to record animating lesson against the
dcsponding thoughts that tempt men to give over
too soon, and allow that portion of their permitted
time to be darkenod which mcst needs TO be cheer
cd, and keep them looking back and hanging
back, instead Of going on, with their faces for
ward, and their feet in the path, ill they rest
and stand in their lot-aye and stand stead
fastly, too-til the end Of their days-C hristias
Examiner.