A Thorny Path — Complete by Georg Ebers (howl and other poems txt) 📖

smiled and nodded, signed to Diodoros to draw off his signet ring—the only thing his father had saved from the days of his wealth and freedom—and desired Melissa to keep it for his sake. Deeply moved, she put it on her finger; but Andreas pointed to the motto, and said with failing utterance:

“That is your road—and mine—my father’s motto: Per aspera ad astra. It has guided me to my goal, and you—all of you. But the words are in Latin; you understand them? By rough ways to the stars—Nay what they say to me is: Upward, under the burden of the cross, to bliss here and hereafter—And you too,” he added, looking in his darling’s face. “You too, both of you; I know it.”

He sighed deeply, and, laying his hand on Melissa’s head as she knelt by his bed, he closed his faithful eyes in the supporting arms of Diodoros.

ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: Begun to enjoy the sound of his own voice Cast off their disease as a serpent casts its skin For what will not custom excuse and sanctify? Force which had compelled every one to do as his neighbors Galenus—What I like is bad for me, what I loathe is wholesome He has the gift of being easily consoled He only longed to be hopeful once more, to enjoy the present It is the passionate wish that gives rise to the belief Man, in short, could be sure of nothing Misfortunes commonly come in couples yoked like oxen Never to be astonished at anything Obstacles existed only to be removed Possess little and require nothing Speaking ill of others is their greatest delight The past must stand; it is like a scar

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Thorny Path [Per Aspera], Complete by Georg Ebers