Concerning the Honor of Books
This sonnet, prefixed to the second edition
of Florio’s Montaigne, 1613, is
Samuel Daniel. generally attributed to the translator,
but the best critics now incline
to the belief that it is by his friend,
Daniel.
Since honor from the honorer proceeds,
How well do they deserve, that memorize
And leave in books for all posterity
The names of worthies and their virtuous deeds;
When all their glory else, like water-weeds
Without their element, presently dies,
And all their greatness quite forgotten lies,
And when and how they flourished no man heeds;
How poor remembrances are statues, tombs,
And other monuments that men erect
To princes, which remain in closèd rooms,
Where but a few behold them, in respect
Of books, that to the universal eye
Show how they lived; the other where they lie!