To Archimedes once a scholar came,
"Teach me," he said, "the art that won thy fame;--
The godlike art which gives such boons to toil,
And showers such fruit upon thy native soil;--
The godlike art that girt the town when all
Rome's vengeance burst in thunder on the wall!"
"Thou call'st art godlike--it is so, in truth,
And was," replied the master to the youth,
"Ere yet its secrets were applied to use--
Ere yet it served beleaguered Syracuse:--
Ask'st thou from art, but what the art is worth?
The fruit?--for fruit go cultivate the earth.--
He who the goddess would aspire unto,
Must not the goddess as the woman woo!"
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Comments2WOW THIS POEM REALLY MAKES YOU THINK ABOUT THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND WHAT ITS WORTH. INSPIRING STUFF!
studying for my English paper and came across this one...it's kinda cool. The bit where it goes 'Ask'st thou from art, but what the art is worth? The fruit?--for fruit go cultivate the earth.' gets ya thinking. Makes me appreciate these old guys' wisdom a bit more. Their way of seeing stuff was so different.