haud curat Hippoclides.

    ERASM. Adag.

To those we love we've drank tonight;

  But now attend and stare not,

While I the ampler list recite

  Of those for whom WE CARE NOT.

For royal men, howe'er they frown,

  If on their fronts they bear not

That noblest gem that decks a crown,

  The People's Love—WE CARE NOT.

For slavish men who bend beneath

  A despot yoke, yet dare not

Pronounce the will whose very breath

  Would rend its links—WE CARE NOT.

For priestly men who covet sway

  And wealth, tho' they declare not;

Who point, like finger-posts, the way

  They never go—WE CARE NOT.

For martial men who on their sword,

  Howe'er it conquers, wear not

The pledges of a soldier's word,

  Redeemed and pure—WE CARE NOT.

For legal men who plead for wrong.

  And, tho' to lies they swear not,

Are hardly better than the throng

  Of those who do—WE CARE NOT.

For courtly men who feed upon

  The land, like grubs, and spare not

The smallest leaf where they can sun

  Their crawling limbs—WE CARE NOT.

For wealthy men who keep their mines

  In darkness hid, and share not

The paltry ore with him who pines

  In honest want—WE CARE NOT.

For prudent men who hold the power

  Of Love aloof, and bare not

Their hearts in any guardless hour

  To Beauty's shaft—WE CARE NOT.

For all, in short, on land or sea,

  In camp or court, who are not,

Who never were, or e'er will be

  Good men and true—WE CARE NOT.