Thus States were form'd; the name of King unknown,
'Till common int'rest plac'd the sway in one. 210 'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,
Diffusing blessings, 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 Pa
King, prieft, 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:
VER. 211. 'Twas Virtue | τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρεθῆς, ἢ καθ ̓ ὑπεροonly, &c.] Our author hath |χὴν τοιύτε γένες.
good authority, for his account of the origin of kingship. Aristotle assures us of this truth, that it was Virtue only, or in arts or arms: Καθίςαλαι Βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν καθ' ὑπεροχὴν ἀρεθῆς, ἢ πράξεων
VER. 219. He from the wond ring furrow, &c.] i. e. He fubdued the intractability of all the four elements, and made them subservient to the use of Man.
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great first father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work distinct was known,
And fimple Reason never fought but one:
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 fov'reign being but a sov'reign good.
VER. 225. Then, looking | during the former state, they
up, &c.] The poet here maketh their more serious attention to Religion to have arisen, not from their gratitude amidst abundance, but from their helplessness in distress; by shewing that,
rested in fecond causes, the immediate authors of their blessings, whom they revered as God; but that, in the other, they reasoned up to the First :
Then, looking up from fire to fire, &c.
true a representation of hu
This, I am afraid, is but too | oblique, &c.] A beautiful allusion to the effects of the prismatic glass on the rays of light.
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 Superftition taught the tyrant awe,
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 groan'd the ground,
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 defcend, and fiends infernal rise:
VER. 242. Th' enormous faith, &c.] In this Aristotle placeth the difference be tween a King and a Tyrant, that the first supposeth him felf made for the People; the other, that the People are made for him: Βάλειαι
δ' ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ εἶναι φύλαξ, ὅπως οἱ μὲν κεκλημένοι τὰς ἐσίας μηθὲν ἄδικον πάσχωσιν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος μὴ ὑβρίζηται μηθέν· ἡ δὲ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΙΣ πρὸς ἐδὲν ἀποβλέπει κοινὸν, εἰ μὴ τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας χάριν. Ρol. lib. v. cap. 10,
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes; 255
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whose attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 260
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on spite, and heav'n on pride.
Then facred seem'd th'etherial vault no more ;
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore :
Then first the Flamen tasted living food;
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, lust:
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 ?
VER. 262.-and heav'n on pride.] This might be very well faid of those times, when no one was content
to go to heaven without being received there on the footing of a God.
How shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake, 275
A weaker may surprise, a stronger take?
His safety 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:
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, rose but to restore
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 flack, nor strain its tender strings,
The less, or greater, set so justly true,
That touching one must strike the other too; -
'Till jarring int'rests, of themselves create
Th'according music of a well-mix'd State.
VER. 283. 'Twas then, &c.] The poet seemeth here to mean the polite and flourishing age of Greece; and those benefactors to Mankind, which
he had principally in view, were Socrates and Aristotle, who, of all the pagan world, spoke best of God, and wrote best of Government.
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