PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS.
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HAT! no way left to shun th’ inglorious stage,And save from infamy my sinking age!Scarce half alive, oppress’d with many a year,What in the name of dotage drives me here?A time there was, when glory was my guide, 5Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside;Unaw’d by pow’r, and unappall’d by fear,With honest thrift I held my honour dear;But this vile hour disperses all my store,And all my hoard of honour is no more. 10For ah! too partial to my life’s decline,Caesar persuades, submission must be mine;Him I obey, whom heaven itself obeys,Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin’d to please.Here then at once, I welcome every shame, 15And cancel at threescore a life of fame;No more my titles shall my children tell,The old buffoon will fit my name as well;This day beyond its term my fate extends,For life is ended when our honour ends. 20
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