Of these the false Achitophel was first,
A name to all succeeding ages cursed.
For close designs and crooked counsels fit,
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit,
Restless, unfixed in principles and place,
In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace;
A fiery soul, which working out its way,
Fretted the pygmy-body to decay:
And o'er-informed the tenement of clay.
A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high
He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
--
Pt. I line 150-164. Compare Aristotle, Problem, sect. 30: "No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness"; Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, 15: "Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementi?" ("There is no great genius without a tincture of madness"); Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, epistle i. line 226: "What thin partitions sense from thought divide!".John Dryden
Dryden, John
Du Bartas, Guillaume de Salluste
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z