But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
Ver. 2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone] i.e. I was well nigh brought to believe that there was no Divine providence; as the Athenians did when their good General Nicias was worsted and slain in Sicily (Thucyd.); as Pompey did, when having the better cause, he was overcome by Caesar; as Brutus did (that last of the Romans as he was called for his courage), when beaten out of the field by Antony, he cried out W τλημων αρετη, now I see that virtue is nothing, but all things are moderated by fortune, whom he charged his children therefore to worship, as a goddess of greatest power.
My steps had well nigh slipped] Quasi nihil effusi sunt gressus mei, that is, as Kimchi interpreteth it, Status meus erat tantillus quasi nullus esset pro figendo pede locus, I had scarce any fastening for my feet, my heels were gone almost. What wonder, then, that heathens have been stounded and staggered?
Cum rapiant mala fata bonos (ignoscite fasso)
Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos,
saith Ovid. And to the same purpose another poet,
Marmoreo Licinus tumulo iacet, et Cato parvo,
Pompeius nullo; quis putet esse Deos?