Yet is his energetic patriotism
Useless,—nay, like a weapon out of date,
Looks not to be a warlike weapon more.
I think in me it had been truer wisdom,
Knowing the forces of this drowning time,
To have said outright—Good, honest Priscus,
Be good no longer, let thine honesty
Rot, it can stead thee nothing; there’s no man
Will be the better for it; there’s no field
Where thou canst exercise it, not a place