305 Alas! not dazzled with their noon-tide ray, The only point where human bliss stands still, COMMENTARY. Ver. 309. Know then this truth, &c.] Having thus at length shewn that Happiness consists neither in external goods of any kind, nor in all kinds of internal (that is, in such of them as are not of our own acquirement), nor yet in the visionary pursuits of the Philosophers, he concludes (from ver. 308 to 311.) that it is to be found in VIRTUE ALONE. Ver. 311. The only point where human bliss stands still, &c.] Hitherto the Poet had proved, NEGATIVELY, that happiness consists in virtue, by shewing, that it did not consist in any thing NOTES. Ver. 309. Know then this truth (enough for Man to know) "Virtue alone is happiness below."] M. Du Resnel translates the lines thus: Appren donc, qu'il n'est point ici bas de bonheur, Si la vertu ne régle et l'esprit et le cœur. else i. e. Learn then, that there is no happiness here below, unless virtue regulates the heart and the understanding: which destroys all the force of his author's conclusion. He had proved, that happiness consists neither in external goods, as the vulgar imagined, nor yet in the visions of the philosophers: he concludes therefore, that it consists in VIRTUE ALONE. His Translator says, that without Virtue, there can be no happiness. And so say the men whom his author is here confuting. For though they supposed external goods requisite to happiness, it was when in conjunction with virtue. Mr. Pope says, “Virtue alone is happiness below :" And so ought a faithful translator to have said after him. Warburton. Where only merit constant pay receives, 315 Without satiety, though e'er so bless'd, And but more relish'd as the more distress'd: The broadest mirth unfeeling folly wears, Less pleasing far than virtue's very tears: 320 Good, from each object, from each place acquir'd, Never elated, while one man's oppress'd; COMMENTARY. else. He now (from ver. 310 to 327.) proves the same POSITIVELY, by an enumeration of the qualities of virtue, all naturally adapted to give and to increase human happiness; as its constancy, capacity, vigour, efficacy, activity, moderation, and selfsufficiency. NOTES. Ver. 319. The broadest mirth] It is singular that this uncommon expression, broad mirth, should be in Origen. Not that we are to imagine that Pope had read it in this Greek father. There are many such coincidences, which must not be attributed to copying or borrowing. The words in Origen are, yλWTA TλATUV οφλήσομεν. Warton. VARIATIONS. After Ver. 316. in the MS. Ev'n while it seems unequal to dispose, And chequers all the good man's joys with woes, And raise his base on that one solid joy, Which conscience gives, and nothing can destroy. These lines are extremely finished. In which there is such a soothing sweetness in the melancholy harmony of the versification, as if the Poet was then in that tender office in which he was most officious, and in which all his soul came out, the condoling with some good man in affliction. Warburton. And where no wants, no wishes can remain, 325 Since but to wish more virtue, is to gain. See the sole bliss heaven could on all bestow! Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know : Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad must miss; the good, untaught, will find; Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature, up to Nature's God; Pursues that chain which links th' immense design, Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine; Sees, that no Being any bliss can know, But touches some above, and some below; Learns from this union of the rising whole, The first, last purpose of the human soul; And knows where faith, law, morals, all began, All end, in LOVE OF GOD, and LOVE OF MAN. COMMENTARY. 335 340 Ver. 327. See the sole bliss heaven could on all bestow!] Having thus proved that Happiness is placed in Virtue; he proves next (from ver. 326 to 329.) that it is rightly placed there; for that then, and then only, ALL may partake of it, and ALL be capable of relishing it. Ver. 329. Yet poor with fortune, &c.] The Poet then, with some indignation, observeth (from ver. 328 to 341.) that as obvious and as evident as this truth was, yet riches and false philosophy had so blinded the discernment even of improved minds, that the possessors of the first placed Happiness in externals, unsuitable to Man's nature; and the followers of the latter, in refined visions, unsuitable to his situation: while the simple-minded man, with NATURE only for his guide, found plainly in what it should be placed. NOTES. Ver. 332. But looks through Nature,] Verbatim from Bolingbroke's Letters to Pope. Warton. For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal, And opens still, and opens on his soul; COMMENTARY. Ver. 341. For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal,] But this is not all; the author shews further (from ver. 340 to 353.) that when the simple-minded man, on his first setting out in the pursuit of Truth in order to Happiness, hath had the wisdom "To look through Nature up to Nature's God," (instead of adhering to any sect or party, where there was so great odds of his chusing wrong,) that then the benefit of gaining the knowledge of God's will written in the mind, is not confined there; for standing on this sure foundation, he is now no longer in danger of chusing wrong, amidst such diversities of Religions; but by pursuing this grand scheme of universal benevolence, in practice as well as theory, he arrives at length to the knowledge of the revealed will of God, which is the consummation of the system of benevolence: "For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal, Till lengthen'd on to FAITH, and unconfin'd, It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind." NOTES. Ver. 341. For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal, &c.] PLATO, in his first book of a Republic, hath a remarkable passage to this purpose: "He whose conscience does not reproach him, has chearful Hope for his companion, and the support and comfort of his old age, according to Pindar. For this great Poet, O Socrates, very elegantly says, That he who leads a just and holy life has always amiable Hope for his companion, which fills his heart with joy, and is the support and comfort of his old age. Hope, the most powerful of the divinities, in governing the everchanging and inconstant temper of mortal men." Τῷ δὲ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ ἄδικον ξυνειδότι ἡδεῖα ΕΛΠΙΣ ἀεὶ πάρεςι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγει. Χαριέντως γὰρ τοί, ὦ Σώκρατες, τῦτ ̓ ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως καὶ ὁσίως τὸν βίον διαγάγῃ, γλυκεῖά οἱ καρδίαν ἀτάλλεσα γηροτρόφος συνάορεῖ ἑλπὶς, ἃ μάλισα θνατῶν πολύτροφον γνώμαν κυβερνᾷ. In the same manner Euripides speaks in his Hercules furens: Οὗτος Till lengthen'd on to FAITH, and unconfin'd, 345 Hope of known bliss, and faith in bliss unknown: (Nature, whose dictates to no other kind Are given in vain, but what they seek they find;) COMMENTARY. Ver. 353. Self-love, thus push'd to social, &c.] The Poet, in the last place, marks out (from ver. 352 to 373.) the progress of his good man's benevolence, pushed through natural religion to re NOTES. Οὗτος δ ̓ ἀνὴρ ἄριτος ὅσις ἐλπίσιν Πέποιθεν αἰεί, τὸ δ ̓ ἀπορεῖν, ἄνδρος κακέ. vealed, Ver. 105. "He is the good man in whose breast hope springs eternally. But to be without hope in the world, is the portion of the wicked." Warburton. To this we may add, he hopes, indeed, for another life, but he does not from hence infer the absolute necessity of it, in order to vindicate the justice and goodness of God. Warton. I fear this remark of the good Doctor will be thought to partake too much of a cavil, particularly when it is observed that the Poet has not placed our expectations of a future state on the "hope of known bliss," only, but on our "faith in bliss unknown." The necessity of another life, in order to complete the great plan, of which we see a part only here, and to vindicate the ways of God to Man, has already been sufficiently insisted on in the course of the Essay. On the present occasion the Poet unites the deductions of philosophy with the promises of revelation. Faith in bliss unknown, alludes to 1 Cor. ii. 9. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." |