Ben Jonson


  E  P  I  G  R  A  M  S .  


LXIII. — TO ROBERT EARL OF SALISBURY.

Who can consider thy right courses run,
With what thy virtue on the times hath won,
And not thy fortune ?  who can clearly see
The judgment of the king so shine in thee ;
And that thou seek'st reward of thy each act,
Not from the public voice, but private fact ?
Who can behold all Envy so declined
By constant suffering of thy equal mind ;
And can to these be silent, SALISBURY,
Without his, thine, and all time's injury ?
Curst be his Muse, that could lie dumb, or hid
To so true worth, though thou thyself forbid.



  
Source:
Jonson, Ben.  The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 789-790.
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