IV Ars aut Probitas

(Art or Virtue)
An age ago, more truly two or three,
The qualitative query did appear-
As Athens wrote and danced a jubilee,
And Sparta taught all other states to fear.
In affluence the thinkers did emerge,
In scarcity the heroes could be seen-
Virility and art did then diverge,
The hero’s bloody sword, and beauty’s gleam.
The modern west is clearly feminine,
Its virtue long deceased and buried low,
Yet many miss the glory while in sin,
And all decry the weakness which we sow.
A couple quarrelling may gain repose,
Yet how can both submit, if they are foes?
-Vir Cogitans Americanus
Scribit Dies VI Iunii, Anno Domini MMVII