Classic Poem

A lion held a court for state affairs:
Why? That is not your business, sir, 't was theirs!
He called the elephants for counsellors — still
The council-board was incomplete;
And the king deemed it fit
With asses all the vacancies to fill.
Heaven help the state — for lo! the bench of asses
The bench of elephants by far surpasses.

He was a fool, the foresaid king, you 'll say:
Better have kept those places vacant surely,
Than fill them up so poorly.
O no! that 's not the royal way;
Things have been done for ages thus, — and we
Have a deep reverence for antiquity:
Naught worse, sir, than to be, or to appear
Wiser and better than our fathers were.
The list must be complete, even though you make it
Complete with asses; for the lion saw
Such had for ages been the law, —
He was no radical to break it!
" Besides, " he said, " my elephants' good sense
Will soon my asses' ignorance diminish,
For wisdom has a mighty influence. "
They made a pretty finish!
The asses' folly soon obtained the sway:
The elephants became as dull as they!