Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Samuel Butler (1612–1680)

Extracts from Hudibras: Honour

[From Part I.]

HE that is valiant and dares fight,

Though drubbed, can lose no honour by ’t.

Honour ’s a lease for lives to come,

And cannot be extended from

The legal tenant: ’Tis a chattel

Not to be forfeited in battle.

If he that in the field is slain

Be in the bed of honour lain,

He that is beaten may be said

To lie in honour’s truckle-bed.

For as we see the eclipsèd sun

By mortals is more gazed upon

Than when, adorned with all his light,

He shines in serene sky most bright,

So valour in a low estate

Is most admired and wondered at.