Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse/The Equanimity of Zeno

by Lydia Sigourney

THE EQUANIMITY OF ZENO.

ONCE came a friend, whose cheek was wet with tears,
And gave this message to the Stoic's ears:

"O man belov'd! thy firmest strength prepare,
To meet the tidings I am doom'd to bear;
A dreadful storm thy wrecking ships did sweep,
And whelm thy riches in the howling deep."

"Receive my thanks, O Fortune! thou hast drove
Me to my studies, and my learned grove,
My books, my toils, which cheer the lengthen'd day,
And for whose loss thy gifts could never pay."

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