“Henceforward,” said the Master, “of this guilt
sloth beware; not lying upon down
Is fame to be attained, nor under quilt;
And he who goes without it to his grave
Leaves of himself such vestige upon earth
As smoke in air, or foam upon the wave.
Rise up then; and thy panting breath refresh
Even with the spirit that in battle wins,
Unless dragged under by the grosser flesh.
A longer ladder is there yet to climb” (XXIV, 46-55, pg 106)
— Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, trans. Jefferson Butler Fletcher (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933).