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Emblems Divine, Moral, Natural and Historical

Expressed in Sculpture, and Applied to the several Ages, Occasions, and Conditions of the Life of Man. By a person of Quality

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 XXXI. 
EMBLEM XXXI. Shrubs safer then Cedars.
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EMBLEM XXXI. Shrubs safer then Cedars.

To the Contented.
A mans pride shall bring him low pro: 29. 23.
The lofty Oak, the Pine, and Cedar tall,
And all great trees that overtop the small,
Spreading their mighty arms out every way,
With branches fresh and green as is the May:
When blustring storms of winde i'th' air do rush,
And with great violence at them do push,
Their monstrous bulks do buckle, bow and bend,
Their branches shiver, and their arms do rend.
Nor do they scape so always: for full oft
Those towring trees that stand so much aloft
By tempests are not onely rent and torn,
But up by th'very roots are likewise torn.
Thus Fortunes darlings in the world so high,
As if no grief or wo could them come nigh,
When storms of Envie once begin to blow,
They are in danger to be brought down low.
But poor low shrubs, that are so mean and base,
Enjoy by far o'th' two the safer place:
For when those blusters make the high ones reel,
These underlings do no such trouble feel.
Then let us not ambitiously desire
The great things of the world, since to aspire
Is most unsafe: for if we stand not fast,
Our fall will be the greater at the last.