Unpopularity

Among birds the phoenix, among fishes the leviathan holds the chiefest place;
Cleaving the crimson clouds. the phoenix soars apace,
With only the blue sky above, far into the realms of space;
But the grandeur of heaven and earth is as naught to the hedge-sparrow race.
And the leviathan rises in one ocean to go to rest in a second,
While the depth of a puddle by a humble minnow as the depth of the sea is reckoned.
And just as with birds and fishes, so too it is with man;
Here soars a phoenix, there swims a leviathan.
Behold the philosopher, full of nervous thought, with a fame that never grows dim.
Dwelling complacently alone, — say, what can the vulgar herd know of him?