Nevertheless, if opportunity be nought, let a man bide his time; So the matter be not merchandise nor conquest, fear thou less for character. If a liar accuseth thee of evil, be not swift to answer; Yea, rather give him license for awhile; it shall help thine honour afterward: Never yet was calumny engendered, but good men speedily discerned it, And innocence hath burst from its injustice, as the green world rolling out of Chaos. What, though still the wicked scoff,--this also turneth to his praise; Did ye never hear that censure of the bad is buttress to a good man's glory? What, if the ignorant still hold out, obstinate in unkind judgment,-- Ignorance and calumny are paired; we affirm by two negations: Let them stand round about, pushing at the column in a circle, For all their toil and wasted strength, the foolish do but prop it. And note thou this; in the secret of their hearts, they feel the taunt is false, And cannot help but reverence the courage, that walketh amid calumnies unanswering: He standeth as a gallant chief, unheeding shot or shell; He trusteth in God his Judge: neither arrows nor the pestilence shall harm him. A high heart is a sacrifice to Heaven: should it stoop among the creepers in the dust, To tell them that what God approved, is worthy of their praise? Never shall it heed the thought; but flaming on in triumph to the skies, And quite forgetting fame, shall find it added as a trophy. A great mind is an altar on a hill: should the priest descend from his altitude, To canvass offerings and worship from dwellers on the plain? Rather, with majestic perseverance will he minister in solitary grandeur, Confident the time will come, when pilgrims shall be flocking to the shrine. For fame is the birthright of genius; and he recketh not how long it be delayed; The heir need not hasten to his heritage, when he knoweth that his tenure is eternal. The careless poet of Avon, was he troubled for his fame, Or the deep-mouthed chronicler of Paradise, heeded he the suffrage of his equals? Mæonides took no thought, committing all his honours to the future, And Flaccus, standing on his watch-tower, spied the praise of ages.