Meaning & Analysis
The proverb literally asserts that among all passions or emotions, ambition is the final one that a noble or high-minded person relinquishes.
Insights
Persistence of Drive
Ambition symbolizes an enduring inner fire—an insatiable urge for greatness or legacy—that even noble individuals struggle to shed, reflecting how deeply rooted the desire for achievement is in the human psyche.
Moral Complexity of Virtue
It implies that ambition, though often seen as a vice, is intertwined with nobility and virtue, suggesting that moral excellence does not preclude—indeed may require—a hunger for distinction or recognition.
Conflict Between Duty and Desire
The proverb captures the tension within elevated minds between selfless duty and personal aspiration. Ambition remains the final, reluctant attachment even as other desires are cast off.
Classical and Renaissance Ideals
Renaissance humanism often valorized ambition when tempered by virtue. This proverb echoes Roman Stoic thought, particularly Seneca and Cicero, where greatness of soul ('magnanimitas') coexists with the peril of pride—ambition thus becomes both heroic and hazardous.
Milton’s Theological Turn
Milton’s use in *Lycidas* transforms ambition into a spiritual dilemma: 'the last infirmity of noble mind' equates fame-seeking with a moral weakness that, while refined, remains a worldly attachment—a subtle critique of the ecclesiastical hierarchy’s vanity.
Psychological Depth
Ambition's endurance reflects its deep psychological grip: even as individuals outgrow vanity, sensuality, or greed, the desire to matter—to achieve something lasting—persists, revealing ambition as both aspirational and existential.
Social Recognition and Mortality
The quest for legacy stems from an awareness of mortality. For the noble mind, ambition becomes a way to defy oblivion—a yearning to be remembered, which makes it the hardest affection to relinquish.
Rhetorical Devices
Personification
Ambition is treated as a persistent companion or garment, dramatizing its tenacity and almost animate resistance to being discarded.
Metaphor
Refers to ambition as an 'affection' or 'garment,' symbolizing internal passions as wearable—something one might struggle to remove despite intent or wisdom.
Irony
The proverb subtly critiques the noble mind, suggesting that even in their loftiest moral standing, individuals remain ensnared by the allure of glory.
Transcription
Quotations
Ambition, like a torrent, ne're lookes back; And is a swelling, and the last affection A high minde can put off.
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of Noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious dayes.
Desire of Glory is the last Garment, that even wise Men put off.
Annotations
- passion
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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