Page:The White Stone.djvu/72

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68
THE WHITE STONE

participate in their immortality. To quote the poet:

"'Illustrious virtue never descends into the Stygian shades. Lead a hero's life, and the fates will not consign thee to the pitiless river of forgetfulness. When comes thy last day, glory will open to thee the path of heaven.'

"Let us realise our condition. We must all die, and all that we are must die. The man of shining virtue simply escapes the common destiny by becoming god, and by obtaining his admission into Olympus among the Heroes and the Gods."

"But he is not conscious of his own apotheosis," said Marcus Lollius. "There does not exist upon earth a slave or a barbarian who is not aware that Augustus is a god. But Augustus knows it not. Hence it is that our Caesars journey reluctantly towards the constellations, and even now we see Claudius near with blanched face these shadowy honours."

Gallio shook his head, and remarked, "The poet Euripides has said:

"'We love the life which is revealed unto us upon earth, since we know of no other.'

"Everything that is related concerning the dead is open to doubt, and is bound up with fables and