Samuel Butler

This hairy meteor did announce
The fall of sceptres and of crowns.

This hairy meteor did announce
The fall of sceptres and of crowns.

The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,
Did cause their clergy, with read more

The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,
Did cause their clergy, with lustrations
. . . .
The round-fac'd prodigy t' avert,
From doing town or country hurt.

For discords make the sweetest airs.

For discords make the sweetest airs.

He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains
in place while all the lesser read more

He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains
in place while all the lesser stars do homage to it.

He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves read more

He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves to have it pulled out
like a traitor's and shown publicly to the rabble.