| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1715. Methinks the Measure |
| | | By Percy Adams Hutchison |
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| METHINKS the measure of a man is not | |
| To save a state in midst of fierce alarms, | |
| Do noble deeds and mighty feats of arms, | |
| And feel the breath of battle waxing hot. | |
| There have been Cæsars whose more humble lot | 5 |
| Forbade that they should bear the victor’s palms; | |
| Cromwells who never left their peaceful farms; | |
| Napoleons without ambition’s blot. | |
| Not in the deed that ’s done before the eyes | |
| Of wonder-stricken lands upturned to view, | 10 |
| But in the will, though no occasion rise, | |
| And sleeping still, that dares such deeds to do, | |
| Is drawn the line which parts him from the clods | |
| And gives a man a kinship with the gods. | |
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