“From sloth,” the master said, “thou needs must now
Escape, for never into fame men come
Lying on down, or coverlet below;
And who without it doth his life consume
Leaves of himself on earth no greater trace
Than smoke in air or in the water foam.
Therefore rise up! Conquer thy weariness
With spirit that conquereth in every fight,
If not too much the body’s weight oppress.
A longer stair way must be climbed.” (XXIV, 46-55, pgs. 180-81)
— Dante Alighieri, The Inferno of Dante, trans. Lacy Lockert (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1931).