No gloomy Pluto ruled the realms of shade,
Nor yet had ravished the Sicilian maid.
Hell then no wheel, no rock, no furies bore,'
No vulture's pounces dripped with ghostly gore;
But cheerful spirits ranged the valleys gay,
Nor of infernal monarchs owned the sway.
A fraud was held a wonder in that age;
And in the presence of a hoary sage,
Had any younger man to rise foreborne,
However blest with ampler stores of corn,
To them a crime of dye so black it seemed,
As by naught else but death could be redeemed.
The like respect by beardless boys was shown
To those whose faces were but just o'ergrown;
Such awe four years precedence could engage,
And youth's first blossom bore the fruits of age!
Now, if your friend should not betray his trust,
But give you
back your coins with all their rust,
It seems a miracle of higher strain
Than all the Tuscan sibyl books contain,
And, in memorial of so strange a deed,
A votive lamb should on the altar bleed.
If now mine eyes a man of virtue greet,
I think a double-headed child to meet;
Not more surprising were it to behold
A plough-share dig up fish, or mules with foal;
Rain fall in pebbles, or in wildest shapes
Bees, clustering on a temple's roof like grapes,
Or rivers, rushing with tremendous sweep,
To pour a milky torrent in the deep.
C
The loss of fifty ducats you deplore,
See your next neighbour filched of ten times
By a like fraud behold a third complain
His loss of all his strong-box could contain.
So prone, so ready are we to despise
The single testimonial of the skies,
Unless a mortal sanction too be given,
And man confirm the evidence of Heaven!
Look! with what seeming purity of breast
And steady face he dares his faith attest;
Swears by the solar beams, the bolts of Jove,
And thy full quiver, huntress of the grove;
By Mars's lance, Apollo's arrows drear,
By Neptune's trident, and Minerva's spear,
Alcides' bow, and whatsoe'er beside
From all heav'n's arsenal can be supplied;
And, if a father-sooner be my food
My infant's flesh, he cries, my drink his blood!
There are who deem that Fortune governs all;
That no Supreme Disposer rules the ball;
That Nature's energies alone suffice
To make successive days and seasons rise;
Hence, with intrepid brow, such men as these
To sanction falsehood, any altar seize.
Another trembles lest the vengeance due,
Of gods offended, should his crimes pursue;
Believes in gods, yet stains with guilt his soul,
And thus attempts his terrors to control;
"Deal with my body as thou wilt," he cries,
"Great Isis! and with blindness strike my eyes,
If peacefully, though blind, I may but hold
The price of perjury, the pilfered gold.
What is a palsied side, a broken leg,
Compared with indigence, compelled to beg?
The fleetest runner would, beyond a doubt,
Give all his swiftness for a wealthy gout;
Nay, should he hesitate in such a case,
Send for his doctor and his waistcoat lace:
For what can all his racing talent boot?
A hungry stomach and a nimble foot.
And what avails the olive round his head,
While puffed with glory, he must pine for bread?
The anger of the gods, though great, is slow;
Nor will their mercy doom to endless wo;
And if they punish every guilty soul,
Before my turn comes what long years may roll!
Perhaps their wrath is pacified with ease,
And oft they overlook such faults as these;
For the same deed, as good or ill luck reigns,
One wields a sceptre, and one hangs in chains.'
Thus having lulled his conscience to repose,
Before you to the sacred fane he goes;
Nay drags you thither, with indignant ear
The oath of fraud and perfidy to hear;
For, with the multitude, guilt's face of brass.
For conscious innocence will often pass.
See! how he lays his hand upon his heart,
And like a finished actor plays his part!
You, plunder'd of your trust, with piercing cries,
In vain, with voice like Stentor, rend the skies,
Or rather, like old Homer's Mars exclaim,
"Hear'st thou all this, great Jove, in silence
tame,
When all thy fury, at such vows accurst,
From lips of brass or marble ought to burst?
Else, wherefore burns our incense at thy shrine?
Why, on thy altars, bleed the calves or swine?
Since no distinction I percieve, were just,
Between your statues and a dancer's bust."
Yet hear what comfort an unlettered friend, Though from no school derived, can recommend;
Who never made the cynic rule his own,
Nor that of stoics, differing but in gown;
Nor yet has learned the maxims to obey
Of Epicurus, in his garden gay.
When dire diseases rack your feeble frame,
Call for some doctor of distinguished fame;
But in a case like yours, of trifling pain,
To Philip's pupil you may trust your vein.
Expressly show that since the world began
A deed so base was never done by man;
Then, I object no longer, tear your hair,
And beat your face and bosom in despair;
At such a dread misfortune close your gates,
With lamentation loud accuse the Fates,
Heave deeper groans, tears more abundant shed
For money pilfered than a father dead.
No man in this case feigns of grief a show;
Content to wear the formal suits of wo,
And fret his eyes to strain a seeming tear,
No! for lost gold our sorrows are sincere!
But if the like complaint with yours you meet, Where'er you turn your eyes in every street; If every day shows men who boldly dare Their own hand-writing to a bond forswear; Proved by ten witnesses their deed deny, And gravely give their solemn seal the lie, Must thou from common miseries be free? And art thou formed of better clay than we? Thou, favoured by the gods with special grace; We, the vile refuse of a worthless race?
Thine eyes to crimes of deeper baseness turn, And thy small loss to bear with patience learn; See this man's slave with robber bands conspire, Behold that mansion blaze with bidden fire: See, from yon antique temple stolen away, The massive goblet, venerably gray! Gifts from which nations once derived renown, Or some old monarch's consecrated crown. Are these not there? behold the villain ply To rasp the gilding from Alcides' thigh, Strike off the nose from Neptune's aged form, Or strip the bracelet from young Castor's arm; Why should he dread of minor gods the frown, Wont the whole thunderer bravely too melt down?
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