Tag: the most

Ic gelyfe no
þæt him eorðwelan
ece stondað.
 
Simle þreora sum
þinga gehwylce
ær his tiddege
to tweon weorþeð:
adl oþþe yldo
oþþe ecghete
fægum fromweardum
feorh oðþringeð.
 
Forþon biþ eorla gehwam
æftercweþendra
lof lifgendra
lastworda betst
 
I do not believe
that the riches of the world
will stand forever.
 
Always and invariably,
one of three things
will turn to uncertainty
before his fated hour:
disease, or old age,
or the sword’s hatred
will tear out the life
from those doomed to die.
 
And so it is for each man
the praise of the living,
of those who speak afterwards,
that is the best epitaph