To William Nash, III

Mightiest-minded of the Roman race, Lucretius! In thy predestined, purgatory place, Where thou and thine Iphigenia wait: What think'st thou of the Vision and the Fate, Wherewith the Christ makes all thine outcries vain? Art learning Christ through sweet and bitter pain, Lucretius?

Heaviest-hearted of the sons of men, Lucretius! Well couldst thou justify severe thoughts then, Considering thy lamentable Rome: But thou wilt come to an imperial home, With walls of jasper, past the walls of fire: To God's proud City, and thine heart's desire, Lucretius!