Sonnets and canzonets / A. Bronson Alcott [electronic text]

"Philosophy does not look into pedigrees. She did not receive Plato as noble, but she made him such."

SENECA.

XII.

INTERPRETER of the Pure Reason's laws, And all the obligations Thought doth owe These high ambassadors of her great cause; Philosopher! whose rare discernments show Apt mastery of her surpassing skill, And why each thought and thing is inly so Conceived and fashioned in the plastic Will; Thou Reason's canons dost so well maintain, With such adhesive and sincere regard, That every deviator seeks in vain To escape thy apprehension; evil-starred, With Dante's sophisters they writhe in pain. Then from thy judgment-seat, dismissed with ruth, Thou lead'st the stumblers in the way of truth.