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'O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint! Virgil's exclamation is as true now as it was when he sang the labours of Italian country-folk some nineteen centuries ago. To a traveller from the north there is a pathos even in the contrast between the country in which these children of a happier climate toil, and those bleak, winter-beaten fields where our own peasants pass their lives.
He sang O fortunatos agricolas! indeed, in every possible key, and with many cunning inflections, till I began to wonder what was the use of such people as Mr. Arch, and to sing the same air myself in a more diffident manner.
He sang O fortunatos agricolas! indeed, in every possible key, and with many cunning inflections, till I began to wonder what was the use of such people as Mr. Arch, and to sing the same air myself in a more diffident manner.
He who wrote, "O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint agricolas," might have written quite as truly, "O infortunatos nimium sua si mala norint"; and there are few of us who are not protected from the keenest pain by our inability to see what it is that we have done, what we are suffering, and what we truly are. Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.
The principle is good, but I do not think it warrants the inference that beasts have no feeling, because I think that, properly speaking, perception is not sufficient to cause misery if it is not accompanied by reflexion. It is the same with happiness: without reflexion there is none. O fortunatos nimium, sua qui bona norint!
"'O fortunatos dimium sua sibona norint! "Leading through the complicated difficulties produced by previous obligations and conflicting interests, seconded by succeeding houses of Congress, enlightened and patriotic, he surmounted all original obstructions, and brightened the path of our national felicity.
Unconcerned at the progress of the world without, unspoiled by the gold of the forestiere, the Procidani pursue the even tenor of their old-fashioned ways, unenvious of and unenvied by their neighbours on the mainland. “O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona nôrint, Agricolas!”
But whether that name was coupled with present felicity or future hopes I do not recollect. But du Maurier's lines describe him and our chumship much better than any words of mine could do. He says: "To BOBTAIL. Oh, fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint All lazy beggars like me "
He held a copy of Virgil in his hand, but he was not reading; he was repeating passages of it by heart. They related to the quiet life. His son heard him saying softly: "'O Fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, Agricolas!" His mind was possibly far back in the past. His placid face lit up with the smile that always shone there when his son appeared. "Well, what's the news?" he asked.
"And the road is safe?" "As that of Paradise." "Chicot, we are returning to Virgil." "To what part?" "To the Bucolics. 'O fortunatos nimium!" "Ah! very well; but why this exception in favor of plowmen?" "Alas! because it is not the same in towns." "The fact is, Henri, that the towns are the centers of corruption." "Judge of it.
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