Were I (who to my cost already am One of those strange, prodigious creatures, man) A spirit free to choose, for my own share, What case of flesh and blood I pleased to wear, I'd be a dog, a monkey, or a bear, Or anything but that vain animal, Who is so proud of being rational. The senses are too gross; and he'll contrive A sixth to contradict the other five; And before certain instinct will prefer Reason, which fifty times for one does err; Reason, an ignis fatuus of the mind, Which, leaving light of nature, sense, behind, Pathless and dangerous wandering ways it takes, Through error's fenny bogs and thorny brakes; Whilst the misguided follower climbs with pain Mountains of whimseys, heaped in his own brain.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Were I (who to my cost already am One of those strange, prodigious creatures, man) A spirit free to choose, for my own share, What case of flesh and blood I pleased to wear, I'd be a dog, a monkey, or a bear, Or anything but that vain animal, Who is so proud of being rational. The senses are too gross; and he'll contrive A sixth to contradict the other five; And before certain instinct will prefer Reason, which fifty times for one does err; Reason, an ignis fatuus of the mind, Which, leaving light of nature, sense, behind, Pathless and dangerous wandering ways it takes, Through error's fenny bogs and thorny brakes; Whilst the misguided follower climbs with pain Mountains of whimseys, heaped in his own brain." in the context of "John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, "A Satire against Reason and Mankind" (c. 1675), line 1." to mean that wisdom is timeless.