Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Samuel Butler (16121680)Extracts from Hudibras: Honour
[From Part I.]
H
Though drubbed, can lose no honour by ’t.
Honour ’s a lease for lives to come,
And cannot be extended from
The legal tenant: ’Tis a chattel
Not to be forfeited in battle.
If he that in the field is slain
Be in the bed of honour lain,
He that is beaten may be said
To lie in honour’s truckle-bed.
For as we see the eclipsèd sun
By mortals is more gazed upon
Than when, adorned with all his light,
He shines in serene sky most bright,
So valour in a low estate
Is most admired and wondered at.