In Virtue's path, with soul resolved, sincere;
And grace divine within thy soul shall grow,
Wrought by the hand of him who bids to flow
A fount perennial of essential joy,
Of fourfold bliss unmingled with alloy:
But, be thy works approach'd with heav'nly love,
With pure devotion to the Gods above.
From acts like these pursued with dauntless soul
Shall peer those laws which every change control;
The Gods immortal with pure light shall shine,
And manifest their nature all divine;
And every change which falls to mortal man
Shall then appear to square with Nature's plan:
Thou, too, shalt learn of heavenly laws the force,—
Why Nature keeps a never changing course;
That all exist as justice hath ordained;
That one unbroken order is maintained.
Hence hope and fear shall wisely rule thy soul,
While Truth directs, and Reason holds control:
Hence nought can hap mysterious to the view,
And nought be hop d which Virtue deems untrue.
the way of evil men please thee. Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside and forsake it. For they sleep not except they have done evil and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall. Prov., 4 ch., 14-16 ver.
See also the third chapter of Proverbs, on the practice of Virtue.