quote · Legacy record
Guilt still alarms, and conscience, ne’er asleep, Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud but deep; While the vexed mind her own tormentor flies, A scorpion scourge unmark’d by human eyes! Trust me no tortures that the poets feign, Can match the fierce, the unutterable pain He feels, who day and night, devoid of rest, Carries his own accuser in his breast.
Guilt still alarms, and conscience, ne’er asleep, Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud but deep; While the vexed mind her own tormentor flies, A scorpion scourge unmark’d by human eyes! Trust me no tortures that the poets feign, Can match the fierce, the unutterable pain He feels, who day and night, devoid of rest, Carries his own accuser in his breast.
Approximate author period: c. 92 AD · classical
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Juvenal
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 92 AD · classical
author lifetime midpoint (47–138)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 139 · printed citation: Juvenal · subject: CONSCIENCE
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