Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
Ode to HimselfBen Jonson (15721637)
W
Buried in ease and sloth?
Knowledge that sleeps, doth die:
And this security,
It is the common moth
That eats on wits and arts, and so destroys them both.
Dried up? lies Thespia waste?
Doth Clarius’ harp want strings?
That not a nymph now sings?
Or droop they as disgraced
To see their seats and bowers by chattering pies defaced?
As ’tis too just a cause,—
Let this thought quicken thee;
Minds that are great and free
Should not on fortune pause;
’Tis crown enough to virtue still, her own applause.