As Fate the comic playwright fills the page.

None do or suffer, be they cursed or blest,
Aught otherwise than the great Wisdom wrote
To gladden each and all who gave Him mirth,

When we at last to sea or air or earth
Yielding these masks that weal or woe denote,
In God shall see who spoke and acted best.



XIV.

_THE HUMAN COMEDY._

_Natura dal Signor._


Nature, by God directed, formed in space
The universal comedy we see;
Wherein each star, each man, each entity,
Each living creature, hath its part and place:

And when the play is over, it shall be
That God will judge with justice and with grace.--
Aping this art divine, the human race
Plans for itself on earth a comedy:

It makes kings, priests, slaves, heroes for the eyes