{"id":59053,"date":"2016-12-03T16:18:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T22:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=59053"},"modified":"2021-06-02T21:47:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T02:47:04","slug":"manvotional-ladder-st-augustine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/manhood\/manvotional-ladder-st-augustine\/","title":{"rendered":"Manvotional: The Ladder of St. Augustine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Ladder of St. Augustine
\nBy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<\/h3>\n

Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
\nThat of our vices we can frame
\nA ladder, if we will but tread
\nBeneath our feet each deed of shame!<\/p>\n

All common things, each day’s events,
\nThat with the hour begin and end,
\nOur pleasures and our discontents,
\nAre rounds by which we may ascend.<\/p>\n

The low desire, the base design,
\nThat makes another’s virtues less;
\nThe revel of the ruddy wine,
\nAnd all occasions of excess;<\/p>\n

The longing for ignoble things;
\nThe strife for triumph more than truth;
\nThe hardening of the heart, that brings
\nIrreverence for the dreams of youth;<\/p>\n

All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds,
\nThat have their root in thoughts of ill;
\nWhatever hinders or impedes
\nThe action of the nobler will;<\/p>\n

All these must first be trampled down
\nBeneath our feet, if we would gain
\nIn the bright fields of fair renown
\nThe right of eminent domain.<\/p>\n

We have not wings, we cannot soar;
\nBut we have feet to scale and climb
\nBy slow degrees, by more and more,
\nThe cloudy summits of our time.<\/p>\n

The mighty pyramids of stone
\nThat wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
\nWhen nearer seen, and better known,
\nAre but gigantic flights of stairs.<\/p>\n

The distant mountains, that uprear
\nTheir solid bastions to the skies,
\nAre crossed by pathways, that appear
\nAs we to higher levels rise.<\/p>\n

The heights by great men reached and kept
\nWere not attained by sudden flight,
\nBut they, while their companions slept,
\nWere toiling upward in the night.<\/p>\n

Standing on what too long we bore
\nWith shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
\nWe may discern \u2014 unseen before \u2014
\nA path to higher destinies,<\/p>\n

Nor deem the irrevocable Past,
\nAs wholly wasted, wholly vain,
\nIf, rising on its wrecks, at last
\nTo something nobler we attain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ladder of St. Augustine By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Saint Augustine! well hast thou said, That of our vices we can frame A ladder, if we will but tread Beneath our feet each deed of shame! All common things, each day’s events, That with the hour begin and end, Our pleasures and our discontents, Are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,42272],"tags":[42295],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-59053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-manhood","tag-manvotionals"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium_large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-768x576.jpg","large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-538x280.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-320x240.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-640x480.jpg","aesop-tiny-cover":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-400x300.jpg","aesop-character":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-200x200.jpg","aesop-collection":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-300x300.jpg","aesop-grid-image":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AoM-Instagram-3-400x300.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59053"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136307,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59053\/revisions\/136307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59053"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=59053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}