This shall the praise of penitence declare:

No thing of value can therewith comparea

Cynic and Author here are seen

Discussing: their debate is keen,

Set speeches showing what they mean

WHO IS THE MAN’,b the Cynic asks, ‘so bold

That scorns the folly fools their virtue hold?

To all that nonconformists say, he takes

Exception: for each line of thought, he makes

Its author give account.c “ That penitence”, says he,

“Is a choice quality, you must agree;

Keep each case-record safe,d filed in your mind.”

Yet one who, quite determined,e lags behind,

Through his recalcitrance can floor the wise,

All highbrows’ structures will he pulverise;

Whereas your self-depreciatingf man

Gets his ideas confused, confounds each plan

That he conceives. He who repents, therein

Offends; ‘tis fools that feel remorse for sin.

Never an intellectual rest had,

Devotion to the spirit is just mad.g

So, when wise saws you would propound, recall

What said the sage—the wisest of them all:

“While youth lasts, joyful be.”h But if you start

The habit of repentance, from your heart

Expelling folly and each self-willed thought,

Be sure that, without doubt, you will be caught

In the ram's fate—he, too, was virtue's friend.j

His story follows here (he met his end).k

A ram was in Damascus to be seen

(’Tis said): a beast of a most modest mien.l

He meditated much, and used, each day,

Meticulous in his observance, pray

Many an office, covered with remorse

Should he have sinned; abstemious, of course,

Regarding food. If ever he displayed

Arrogance, he contrite confession made.

A perfect saint, his windows were designed

To face Jerusalem,m that, thus aligned,

Through them he might his trespasses confess:

His mood was one of sad reflectiveness,

Uprightness was his motto, peace he sought

As, being Aaron's devotee,n he ought.

To keep his fleece from briars free and spineso

Ten housekeepers he had—his concubines.p

With these he was discretion's soul, and fair:

A weighted scaleq ensured to each her share.

There was a he-goat,r too; gross,s he did not

(So vain was he) for others care a jot.

Inside him, like a cauldron on the fire,

There boiled,t with vipers’ venom,u his desire.