Leuconoe, close the book of fate, For troubles are in store, . . . . Live today, tomorrow is not.

What we hear strikes the mind with less force than what we see.

Not to hope for things to last forever, is what the year teaches and even the hour which snatches a nice day away.

Even play has ended in fierce strife and anger.

Those unacquainted with the world take pleasure in intimacy with great men; those who are wiser fear the consequences.

Not treasured wealth, nor the consul's lictor, can dispel the mind's bitter conflicts and the cares that flit, like bats, about your fretted roofs.

A jest often decides matters of importance more effectively and happily than seriousness.