Quote of the Day (Thomas Nashe, on How ‘This World Uncertain Is’ During a Plague)

“Adieu, farewell, earth's bliss;

This world uncertain is;

Fond are life's lustful joys;

Death proves them all but toys;

None from his darts can fly;

I am sick, I must die.

    Lord, have mercy on us!

“Rich men, trust not in wealth,

Gold cannot buy you health;

Physic himself must fade.

All things to end are made,

The plague full swift goes by;

I am sick, I must die.

    Lord, have mercy on us!”— English poet-playwright Thomas Nashe (1567-1601), “A Litany in Time of Plague”

I came across this poem last night while paging through a poetry anthology. In the middle of the third verse, and especially a striking single line—“Brightness falls from the air”—I realized that I had encountered it nearly 30 years before, in Jay McInerney’s novel of America in the grip of a Wall Street crash and the spiraling spread of the deadly disease AIDS: Brightness Falls.

We find ourselves in a similar situation today, except that the Coronavirus—just declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization—has appeared and attacked more swiftly than even AIDS. The Coronavirus has left many of us with a sense of rising dread—that is, when we’re not experiencing anger at those (who shall remain nameless!) who pooh-poohed its strength.

In times like this, history provides a fine reassurance in its attempt at rationality. For instance, this National Geographic clip shows how growth of trade, urbanization, and a lack of medical knowledge all contributed to the spread of plagues. Again, that sounds not dissimilar to our present condition.