And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die - This has been the language or all those who have sought their portion in this life, since the foundation of the world. So the poet: -
Heu, heu nos miserif quam totus homuncio nil est!
Sic erimus cuncti, postquam nos auferet orcus.
Ergo vivamus, dum licet esse, bene.
Alas alas! what miserable creatures are we, oniy the semblances of men! And so shall we be all when we come to die. Therefore let us live joyfully while we may.
Domitian had an image of death hung up in his dining-room, to show his guests that as life was uncertain, they should make the best of it by indulging themselves. On this Martial, to flatter the emperor, whom he styles god, wrote the following epigram: -
Frange thoros, pete vina, tingere nardo.
Ipse jubet mortis te meminisse Deus.
Sit down to table - drink heartily - anoint thyself with spikenard; for God himself commands thee to remember death.
So the adage: -
Ede, bibe, lude
post mortem nulla voluptas.
"Eat, drink, and play, while here ye may:
No revelry after your dying day."
St. Paul quotes the same heathen sentiment, 1 Corinthians 15:32 : "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Anacreon is full in point, and from him nothing better can be expected: -
Ὡς ουν ετ' ευδι' εστιν,
Και πινε και κυβευε
Και σπενδε τῳ Λυαιῳ·
Μη νουσος, ην τις ελθῃ,
Λεγῃ, σε μη δει πινειν.
Anac. Od. xv., 50:11.
"While no tempest blots your sky,
Drink, and throw the sportful dye:
But to Bacchus drench the ground,
Ere you push the goblet round;
Lest some fatal illness cry,
'Drink no more the cup of joy.'"
Addison.