The Second Part

Summary

This shall the praise of penitence declare:

No thing of value can therewith compare^a

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-depreciating^f 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 spines^o

Ten housekeepers he had—his concubines.^p

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

A weighted scale^q 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.