Hercules and Plutus
Wealth by the brave is justly scorn'd,Since men are from the truth suborn'd,And a full chest perverts their waysFrom giving or deserving praise.When Hercules, for matchless worth,Was taken up to heav'n from earth,As in their turns to all the crowdOf gratulating gods he bow'd,When Plutus, Fortune's son, he spies,He from his face averts his eyes.Jove ask'd the cause of this disgust:"I hate him, as he is unjust,To wicked men the most inclined,And grand corrupter of mankind."
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- plutus n.
- The son of Jason and Ceres, and the god of wealth. He was represented as bearing a cornucopia, and as blind, because his gifts were bestowed without discrimination of merit.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- corrupter n.
- One who corrupts; one who vitiates or taints; as, a corrupter of morals.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hercules and Plutus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #25512; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phaedrus, Hercules and Plutus, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/hercules-and-plutus.html, id L21303.
Form and metre
Hercules and Plutus is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGG scorn'dA · suborn'dA · waysB · praiseB · worthC · earthC · crowdD · bow'dD · spiesE · eyesE · disgustF · unjustF · inclinedG · mankindG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wealth by the brave is justly scorn'd, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Since men are from the truth suborn'd, | 8 | ········ |
| And a full chest perverts their ways | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| From giving or deserving praise. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| When Hercules, for matchless worth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was taken up to heav'n from earth, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As in their turns to all the crowd | 8 | ········ |
| Of gratulating gods he bow'd, | 8 | ········ |
| When Plutus, Fortune's son, he spies, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He from his face averts his eyes. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Jove ask'd the cause of this disgust: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| "I hate him, as he is unjust, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To wicked men the most inclined, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And grand corrupter of mankind." | 8 | ··˘/˘·// |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.