from guilt, were by their own hands slain, and, hating light,
sought death."--AEneid, vi. 434.]

There is more constancy in suffering the chain we are tied to than in
breaking it, and more pregnant evidence of fortitude in Regulus than in
Cato; 'tis indiscretion and impatience that push us on to these
precipices: no accidents can make true virtue turn her back; she seeks
and requires evils, pains, and grief, as the things by which she is
nourished and supported; the menaces of tyrants, racks, and tortures
serve only to animate and rouse her:

"Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus
Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido,
Per damma, percmdes, ab ipso
Ducit opes, animumque ferro."

["As in Mount Algidus, the sturdy oak even from the axe itself
derives new vigour and life."--Horace, Od., iv. 4, 57.]

And as another says:

"Non est, ut putas, virtus, pater,
Timere vitam; sed malis ingentibus
Obstare, nec se vertere, ac retro dare."

["Father, 'tis no virtue to fear life, but to withstand great
misfortunes, nor turn back from them."--Seneca, Theb., i. 190.]

Or as this: