{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/prologus-in-phormionem",
 "title": "Prologus in Phormionem",
 "ordinal": "CLXXVII",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 177,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "verses-on-various-occasions.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 49,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "What Attic Terence wrote of old for Rome,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We in our northern accents lisp to-night;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What heathen Terence spoke to heathen ears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We speak with Christian tongues to Christian men:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Doing the while this service to the Bard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the rare beauty of his classic wit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We by our pruning make more beautiful.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O happy art, which Terence never knew,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But they have learned, who aim in every thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To choose the good, and pass the evil by!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These, as they pace the tangled path of life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cleanse from this earth its earthly dross away,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And clothe it with a pure supernal light.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Neighbours and friends, what I have more to say⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is not much⁠—concerns our actors here,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fresh tender souls, and palpitating hearts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Boys, who, though boys, essay the parts of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And are the first within this Catholic fold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To represent a classic comedy.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be kind⁠—they strive with no inglorious aim;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where they do well, applaud; and, if in aught",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They shall come short, be mild and merciful.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Prologue enough; let Davus enter now,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And lend his ear, while Geta tells his tale.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}