220 iHijstIttof. 
Mistletoe..../ climb to greatness. 
The Mistletoe is a creeping plant which grows on 
the tops of the tallest trees. The proud oak is its slave, 
and nourishes it with his own substance. The Druids 
paid a kind of adoration to it, as the emblem of a weak¬ 
ness that was superior to strength: they regarded the 
tyrant of the oak as equally formidable to men and 
gods. 
’Tis a common proof, 
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder, 
Whereto the climber upwards turns his face: 
But when he once attains the upmost round, 
He then unto the ladder turns his back, 
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees 
By which he did ascend. 
Shakspeare. 
He who ascends to mountain-tops shall find 
The loftiest pea]^ most wrapt in clouds and snow; 
He who surpasses or subdues mankind 
Must look down on the hate of those below. 
Though high above the sun of glory glow, 
And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, 
Bound him are icy rocks, and loudly blow 
Contending tempests on his naked head, 
And thus reward the toils which to those summits led. 
Byron. 
