Joseph Addison’s “On Westminster Abbey” (1711): Funereal Thoughts

Joseph Addison’s “On Westminster Abbey” (1711): Funereal Thoughts

Nihil semper floret, aetas succedit aetati. Nothing flourishes forever; every age gives way to the next (Cicero, Philippics, 11. 15. 39). Everything in this world waxes and wanes. Dynasties rise and fall and, as one ages, one slowly adapts to the next stage of life. Nothing stands still. Everything passes, as we, too, shall pass. No matter how horrible the present, it will one day be but a memory, as shall we.

What follows is a brief excerpt from the celebrated 1711 essay by Joseph Addison “On Westminster Abbey,” which sets this same idea within a much larger framework. As you grow older, you might feel drawn to Addison’s essays, which cover every conceivable aspect of human existence.

The imagination of most 18th-century authors since they were boys was steeped in classical antiquity, and it was customary for writers to begin their essays with a Latin epigram that captured the essence of what was to follow. Addison’s choice from the Odes of Horace could not have been more apt.

Pallida mors aquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres, O beate Sexti, Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. Jam te premet nox, fabulaeque manes, Et domus exilis Plutonia.

Pale death with foot impartial knocks at the poor man’s cottage and at princes’ palaces. Despite thy fortune, Sestius, life’s brief span forbids thy entering on far-reaching hopes. Soon shall the night of Death enshroud thee, and the fabled shades and Pluto’s cheerless hall. Horace Odes, I.4.13–17

When I am in a serious Humor, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey; where the Gloominess of the Place, and the Use to which it is applied, with the Solemnity of the Building, and the Condition of the People who lie in it, are apt to fill the Mind with a kind of Melancholy, or rather Thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable.

Upon my going into the Church, I entertained myself with the digging of a Grave; and saw in every Shovel-full of it that was thrown up, the Fragment of a Bone or Skull intermixt with a kind of fresh moldering Earth that some time or other had a Place in the Composition of a human Body.

Upon this, I began to consider with myself, what innumerable Multitudes of People lay confused together under the Pavement of that ancient Cathedral; how Men and Women, Friends and Enemies, Priests and Soldiers, Monks and Prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in the same common Mass; how Beauty, Strength, and Youth, with Old-age, Weakness, and Deformity, lay undistinguished in the same promiscuous Heap of Matter.

When I look upon the Tombs of the Great, every Emotion of Envy dies in me; when I read the Epitaphs of the Beautiful, every inordinate Desire goes out; when I meet with the Grief of Parents upon a Tombstone, my Heart melts with Compassion; when I see the Tomb of the Parents themselves, I consider the Vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow:

When I see Kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival Wits placed Side by Side, or the holy Men that divided the World with their Contests and Disputes, I reflect with Sorrow and Astonishment on the little Competitions, Factions and Debates of Mankind.

When I read the several Dates of the Tombs, of some that died Yesterday, and some six hundred Years ago, I consider that great Day when we shall all of us be Contemporaries, and make our Appearance together.

Despite high rank and station, we are are all one in the grave. Sic transit gloria mundi. Thus passes the glory of the world! Despite all the striving toward immortality, this is how it all ends. Instant perspective! So live life while you can! Live it intensely, with might and main!

Spem tibi polliciti certam promittere noli; multi multa loquuntur. Place little trust in promises; people say many things (The Sayings of Cato, 1. 13) Unless you know and trust someone, you’re building on sand when relying on someone’s promise. Not that they set out to deceive you by withdrawing that promise at the last moment. It’s just that they make these promises on a sudden impulse of generosity and, later, they simply forget about it. So, don’t feel betrayed. Just don’t build castles in the sky based on promises. People forget!

Utrumque enim vitium est, et omnibus credere et nulli. It is just as foolish to trust no one as everyone (Seneca, Moral Letters, 3. 4). When you’re young, you tend to trust everyone. It’s one thing to trust tried-and-true friends, but not everyone, for you never know who will betray you or your secret and use it against you.

If it has to do with asking for advice, always ask someone older whom you trust because, although one of your friends may want to advise you, he or she may lack the experience of life to do so, and you’d have the blind leading the blind.

The other extreme is trusting no one. You may need someone with whom to discuss a problem, because talking things out often helps us to clarify the problem to find the solution ourselves. It’s called “the talking cure.” Talking things out gives us the necessary distance and clarity to see things we didn’t before. This is what close friends are for, to be there to listen; otherwise, things may fester inside. Always talk things out and you’ll always feel better.

Lupus est homo homini. Man is a wolf to his fellowman (Plautus, Comedy of Asses, 495). Misfortune often brings out the best in people. In time of war people pull together in solidarity, helping and supporting one another, not only friends and neighbors, but strangers as well.

However, misfortune can also bring out the worst in people. Price gouging is common in times of scarcity when someone will take advantage and charge $20 for a gallon of water or gas, or ticket scalpers outside a stadium before a concert or ballgame.

America’s recent predatory and fraudulent student loan scandal is without precedent in this country. Dishonest lending practices against college students were actually aided and abetted by a former Dept. of Education Secretary, causing no end of financial hardship.

Homini perdere hominem libet. Man delights in ruining man (Seneca, Moral Letters, 103. 2). Be very careful about not being cheated for there are those who will try to take advantage of your youth. This can happen at any time, so be very wary. Don’t go by people’s faces or manner, for cheating is their livelihood and they are practiced practitioners. Seneca says that they have the faces of men, but the souls of brutes.

Manus manum lavat. One hand washes the other (Seneca, The Pumpkinification of Claudius, 9. 9) If you vote for my bill, I’ll vote for yours. You do me a favor, and I’ll do you one in return. Reciprocity is the essence of politics. The arms industry that has a huge incentive in wanting a war to make money even though tens of thousands will die.

This is blood money pure and simple that lobbyists can bribe politicians with by way of hefty campaign contributions in exchange for big military contracts. Manus manum lavat is business as usual even in war, while the arms industry, lobbyists, and politicians are ghouls who feast off the dead.

Alienum silere quod voles, primus sile. If you want someone to keep your secret, you must first keep it yourself (Seneca, Hippolytus, 876). We shouldn’t expect from others what we are unable to do ourselves. So many of our problems are caused by ourselves and our inability to control what we say, thereby placing ourselves in the power of others.

Necesse est cum insanientibus furere, nisi solus relinqueris. You must howl with the mad if you would not be alone (Petronius, Satyricon, 3 adapted). However, there’s another way of dealing with this. The world contains people whom you may find hard to endure. This may be a work situation, neighbors, or a part of the country where you happen to live, but it’s important to realize that everyone has this problem and finds a way of dealing with it by keeping to themselves and being polite.

Citius flammas mortales ore tenebunt quam secreta tegunt. Mortals would sooner keep fire in their mouths than secrets (Petronius, Poems, 13). What is it about secrets that makes them so hard to keep? If someone told you something in confidence, would you betray that confidence? Or, more to the point, what kind of person would? And why?

Petronius (first century CE) is known principally as the Roman satirist whose picaresque novel, Satyricon, parodies the corruption of Roman society. Surviving only in fragments, this story contains the celebrated episode of Trimalchio’s Banquet,” a lavish dinner party of a self-made, multi-millionaire ex-slave of enormous vulgarity and pretensions to culture. Beyond lampooning nouveau-riche attitudes, the dialogue reveals a great deal about colloquial Latin. The author is thought to be the same Petronius whose knowledge of high fashion earned him the title of Nero’s “arbiter of elegance.”

Frank Breslin is a retired high-school teacher in the New Jersey public school system.