Faustus
The Epicuran, Leo Decimus,
Had such a mind. He questioned how the soul
Which was not, was, and then was not again
Should be immortal; so he summoned him
His doctors and his clerks and bade them speak
Backward and forward, he digesting all
Their doctrines and logomachies and rules,
Believing here, denying there, and ending
With Gallus': "Redit in nihilum quod ante
Nihil." And judged uncommon well. The soul,
Or, as your Paracelsus saith, the four
Seed covers of the spirit—what are these
But thought ill-elixate, a crapula
Troubling the brain?
But I digress somewhat
From Eden; so did mother Eve, but she
Was woman. Man must ever set his face
Toward the sunset, make his pilgrim way
Into the West. There is no pause for dream
With all the shining kingdom of the mind,
All truth, all science, all the stars to reap,
And Time forever clattering at heel
