210

Thus Ştates were form’d; the name of King un

known, 'Till common int'rest plac'd the sway in one. 'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms, Diffusing bleffings, or averting harms) The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd, A Prince the Father of a People made. VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch fate,

215 King, priest, and parent of his growing state; On him, their second Providence, they hung, Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue. He from the wond’ring furrow call’d the food, Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220 Draw forth the monsters of th’abyss profound, Or fetch th’aerial eagle to the ground. 'Till drooping, fick’ning, dying they began Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:

NOTES. Ver. 211. 'Twas Virtue tõvemò rös ágelñs, ý xal' imepoonly, &c.] Our author hath xàv sosete yéves. good authority, for his ac- Ver. 219. He from the count of the origin of king. wond'ring furrow,&c.]i.e. ship. Aristotle assures us of He subdued the intračtabi. this truth, that it was Vir-lity of all the four elements, tue only, or in arts or arms: and made them subfervient Καθίςαθαι Βασιλεύς εκ των επιεικών | to the ufe of Man. καθ' υπεροχήν ερελής, η πράξεων

Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd 225
One great first father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to son;
The worker from the work distinct was known,
And simple Reason never fought but one: 230
E’er Wit oblique had broke that steddy light,
Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right;
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure, trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
Love all the faith, and all th' allegiance then ; 235
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A sov’reign being but a sov'reign good.

NOTES.

Ver. 225. Then, looking during the former state, they up, &c.] The poet here rested in second causes, the maketh their more serious immediate authors of their attention to Religion to have blessings, whom they revered arisen, not from their gra: as God; but that, in the titude amidst abundance, other, they reasoned up to but from their helplessness the First: in distress ; by shewing that,

Then, looking up from fire to fire, &c. This, I am afraid, is but too oblique, &c.] A beautiful trae a representation of hu- allusion to the effects of the man nature.

prismatic glass on the rays 231

E'er Wit of light.

VER

True faith, true policy, united ran,
That was but love of God, and this of Man. 240

Who first taught souls enslav'd, and realms undone,
Th' enormous faith of many made for one ;
That proud exception to all Nature's laws,
T'invert the world, and counter-work its Cause?
Force first made Conquest, and that conquest, Law;
'Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe, 246
Then shar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu’rors, Slaves of Subjects made :
She 'midst the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's

found, When rock'd the mountains, and when groand the ground,

250 She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray, To Pow'r unseen, and mightier far than they : She, from the rending earth and bursting skies, Saw Gods descend, and fiends infernal rise :

NOTES.

Ver. 242. Th' enormous δ' ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ είναι φύλαξ, όπως faith, &c.] In this Aristotle οι μεν κεκλημένοι τας εσίας μηθέν placeth the difference be. άδικον πάσχωσιν, ο δε δήμος μη tween a King and a Tyrant, υβρίζ ήλαιμηθέν ή δε ΤΥΡΑΝΝΙΣ that the first supposeth him- προς έδεν αποβλέπει κοινόν, ει μη felf made for the People ;

της ιδίας ωφελείας χάριν. Ρol. the other, that the People lib. v. cap. 10, are made for him: Býrslan

Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes ; 255
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust,
Whose attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft ;
Such as the souls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 266
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide ;
And hell was built on spite, and heav'n on pride.
Then sacred seem'd th’etherial vault no more ;
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore :
Then first the Flamen tasted living food; 265
Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood;

! With Heav'n's own thunders shook the world below, And play'd the God an engine on his foe.

So drives Self-love, thro' just and thro' unjust, To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft: 270 The same Self-love, in all, becomes the cause Of what restrains him, Government and Laws. For, what one likes if others like as well, What serves one will, when many wills rebel?

NOTES.

Ver. 262.and heav'n | to go to heaven without on pride.] This might be being received there on the very well said of those times, footing of a God. when no one was content

E

How shall he keep, what, sleeping or awake, 275
A weaker may surprise, a stronger take?
His fafety must his liberty restrain :
All join to guard what each desires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus by Self-defence,
Ev'n Kings learn'd justice and benevolence : 280
Self-love forsook the path it first pursu'd,
And found the private in the public good.

'Twas then, the studious head or gen'rous mind, Follow'r of God or friend of human-kind, Poet or Patriot, rofe but to restore

285 The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before ; Re-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new ; If not God's image, yet his shadow drew : Taught Pow'r's due use to People and to Kings, Taught nor to slack, nor strain its tender strings, The less, or greater, set fo justly true, 291 That touching one must strike the other too ; 'Till jarring int'rests, of themfelves create Th’according music of a well-mix'd State.

NOTES. Ver. 283. 'Twas then, he had principally in view, &c.] The poet seemeth were Socrates and Aristotle ; here to mean the po- who, of all the pagan world, lite and flourishing age of spoke best of God, and Greece ; and those bene-wrote best of Government. factors to Mankind, which