Oxford and Cambridge Club.
_"'Twas they," &c._ (Vol. v., p. 10.).--
"'Twas they unsheath'd the ruthless blade,
And Heaven shall ask the havock it has made."
AMICUS asks where this couplet is to be found. It appears to me that it
has been derived from an imperfect translation of the last two lines of
Martial's epigram, L. iv. Ep. 44., in which he describes the effects of
a recent eruption of Vesuvius:
"Cuncta jacent flammis, et tristi mersa favillâ:
Nec Superi vellent hoc licuisse sibi."
It is a _petit morçeau_ of heathen blasphemy, in supposing that the gods
ought to repent of what they have done.