The Literary Encyclopedia

John Dryden

Absalom and Achitophel

		In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
		Before polygamy was made a sin;
		When man on many multiplied his kind,
		Ere one to one was cursedly confined;
5		When nature prompted, and no law denied
		Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
		Then Israel’s monarch after heaven’s own heart,
		His vigorous warmth did variously impart
		To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command,
10		Scattered his Maker’s image through the land.
		Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear;
		A soil ungrateful to the tiller’s care:
		Not so the rest; for several mothers bore
		To godlike David several sons before.
15		But since like slaves his bed they did ascend,
		No true succession could their seed attend.
		Of all this numerous progeny was none
		So beautiful, so brave, as Absalom:
		Whether, inspired by some diviner lust,
20		His father got him with a greater gust;
		Or that his conscious destiny made way,
		By manly beauty, to imperial sway.
		Early in foreign fields he won renown,
		With kings and states allied to Israel’s crown:
25		In peace the thoughts of war he could remove,
		And seemed as he were only born for love.
		Whate’er he did was done with so much ease,
		In him alone ’twas natural to please;
		His motions all accompanied with grace;
30		And paradise was opened in his face.
		With secret joy indulgent David viewed
		His youthful image in his son renewed:
		To all his wishes nothing he denied;
		And made the charming Annabel his bride.
35		What faults he had (for who from faults is free?)
		His father could not, or he would not see.
		Some warm excesses which the law forbore,
		Were construed youth that purged by boiling o’er,
		And Amnon’s murder, by a specious name,
40		Was called a just revenge for injured fame.
		Thus praised and loved the noble youth remained,
		While David, undisturbed, in Sion reigned.
		But life can never be sincerely blest;
		Heaven punishes the bad, and proves the best.
45		The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race,
		As ever tried the extent and stretch of grace;
		God’s pampered people, whom, debauched with ease,
		No king could govern, nor no God could please
		(Gods they had tried of every shape and size,
50		That god-smiths could produce, or priests devise);
		These Adam-wits, too fortunately free,
		Began to dream they wanted liberty;
		And when no rule, no precedent was found,
		Of men by laws less circumscribed and bound,
55		They led their wild desires to woods and caves,
		And thought that all but savages were slaves.
		They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,
		Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forgo;
		Who banished David did from Hebron bring,
60		And with a general shout proclaimed him king:
		Those very Jews, who, at their very best,
		Their humour more than loyalty expressed,
		Now wondered why so long they had obeyed
		An idol monarch, which their hands had made;
65		Thought they might ruin him they could create,
		Or melt him to that golden calf a state.
		But these were random bolts; no formed design,
		Nor interest made the factious crowd to join:
		The sober part of Israel, free from stain,
70		Well knew the value of a peaceful reign,
		And, looking backward with a wise affright,
		Saw seams of wounds, dishonest to the sight
		In contemplation of whose ugly scars
		They cursed the memory of civil wars.
75		The moderate sort of men, thus qualified,
		Inclined the balance to the better side;
		And David’s mildness managed it so well,
		The bad found no occasion to rebel.
		But when to sin our biased nature leans,
80		The careful devil is still at hand with means;
		And providently pimps for ill desires:
		The Good Old Cause revived, a plot requires.
		Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
		To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
85		The inhabitants of Old Jerusalem
		Were Jebusites, the town so called from them;
		And theirs the native right.
		But when the chosen people grew more strong,
		The rightful cause at length became the wrong;
90		And every loss the men of Jebus bore,
		They still were thought God’s enemies the more.
		Thus worn and weakened, well or ill content,
		Submit they must to David’s government:
		Impoverished and deprived of all command,
95		Their taxes doubled as they lost their land;
		And what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
		Their gods disgraced, and burnt like common wood.
		This set the heathen priesthood in a flame;
		For priests of all religions are the same:
100		Of whatso’er descent their godhead be,
		Stock, stone, or other homely pedigree,
		In his defence his servants are as bold,
		As if he had been born of beaten gold.
		The Jewish rabbis, though their enemies,
105		In this conclude them honest men and wise:
		For ’twas their duty, all the learned think,
		To espouse his cause, by whom they eat and drink.
		From hence began that Plot, the nation’s curse,
		Bad in itself, but represented worse;
110		Raised in extremes, and in extremes decried;
		With oaths affirmed, with dying vows denied;
		Not weighed or winnowed by the multitude;
		But swallowed in the mass, unchewed and crude.
		Some truth there was, but dashed and brewed with lies,
115		To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.
		Succeeding times did equal folly call,
		Believing nothing, or believing all.
		The Egyptian rites the Jebusites embraced;
		Where gods were recommended by their taste.
120		Such savoury deities must needs be good,
		As served at once for worship and for food
		By force they could not introduce these gods,
		For ten to one in former days was odds;
		So fraud was used (the sacrificer’s trade):
125		Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade.
		Their busy teachers mingled with the Jews,
		And raked for converts even the court and stews:
		Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,
		Because the fleece accompanies the flock.
130		Some thought they God’s anointed meant to slay
		By guns, invented since full many a day:
		Our author swears it not; but who can know
		How far the Devil and Jebusites may go?
		This Plot, which failed for want of common sense,
135		Had yet a deep and dangerous consequence:
		For, as when raging fevers boil the blood,
		The standing lake soon floats into a flood,
		And every hostile humour, which before
		Slept quiet in its channels, bubbles o’er;
140		So several factions from this first ferment
		Work up to foam, and threat the government.
		Some by their friends, more by themselves thought wise,
		Opposed the power to which they could not rise.
		Some had in courts been great, and thrown from thence,
145		Like fiends were hardened in impenitence.
		Some, by their monarch’s fatal mercy, grown
		From pardoned rebels kinsmen to the throne,
		Were raised in power and public office high;
		Strong bands, if bands ungrateful men could tie.
150		Of these the false Achitophel was first,
		A name to all succeeding ages cursed:
		For close designs and crooked counsels fit;
		Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit;
		Restless, unfixed in principles and place;
155		In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace:
		A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
		Fretted the pigmy body to decay,
		And o’er-informed the tenement of clay.
		A daring pilot in extremity;
160		Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high,
		He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit,
		Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit.
		Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
		And thin partitions do their bounds divide;
165		Else why should he, with wealth and honour blest,
		Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?
		Punish a body which he could not please;
		Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease?
		And all to leave what with his toil he won,
170		To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son,
		Got, while his soul did huddled notions try;
		And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
		In friendship false, implacable in hate;
		Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.
175		To compass this the triple bond he broke,
		The pillars of the public safety shook;
		And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke:
		Then seized with fear, yet still affecting fame,
		Usurped a patriot’s all-atoning name.
180		So easy still it proves in factious times
		With public zeal to cancel private crimes:
		How safe is treason, and how sacred ill,
		Where none can sin against the people’s will:
		Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known,
185		Since in another’s guilt they find their own.
		Yet fame deserved no enemy can grude:
		The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge.
		In Israel’s courts ne’er sat an Abbethdin
		With more discerning eyes, or hands more clean:
190		Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress,
		Swift of despatch, and easy of access.
		Oh, had he been content to serve the crown
		With virtues only proper to the gown,
		Or had the rankness of the soil been freed
195		From cockle that oppressed the noble seed,
		David for him his tuneful harp had strung,
		And heaven had wanted one immortal song.
		But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand,
		And fortune’s ice prefers to virtue’s land.
200		Achitophel, grown weary to possess
		A lawful fame and lazy happiness,
		Disdained the golden fruit to gather free,
		And lent the crowd his arm to shake the tree.
		Now, manifest of crimes contrived long since,
205		He stood at bold defiance with his prince;
		Held up the buckler of the people’s cause
		Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws.
		The wished occasion of the Plot he takes;
		Some circumstances finds, but more he makes.
210		By buzzing emissaries fills the ears
		Of listening crowds with jealousies and fears
		Of arbitrary counsels brought to light,
		And proves the king himself a Jebusite.
		Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well
215		Were strong with people easy to rebel:
		For, governed by the moon, the giddy Jews
		Tread the same track when she the prime renews;
		And once in twenty years, their scribes record,
		By natural instinct they change their lord.
220		Achitopel still wants a chief, and none
		Was found so fit as warlike Absolon:
		Not that he wished his greatness to create
		(For politicians neither love or hate),
		But for he knew his title not allowed
225		Would keep him still depending on the crowd,
		That kingly power, thus ebbing out, might be
		Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.

		Auspicious prince! at whose nativity
		Some royal planet ruled the southern sky;
230		Thy longing country's darling and desire;
		Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire:
		Their second Moses, whose extended wand
		Divides the seas, and shows the promised land:
		Whose dawning day, in every distant age,
235		Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage:
		The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme,
		The young men's vision, and the old men's dream!
		Thee, Saviour, thee the nation's vows confess,
		And, never satisfied with seeing, bless:
240		Swift, unbespoken pomps thy steps proclaim,
		And stammering babes are taught to lisp thy name.
		How long wilt thou the general joy detain,
		Starve and defraud the people of thy reign!
		Content ingloriously to pass thy days,
245		Like one of virtue's fools that feed on praise;
		Till thy fresh glories, which now shine so bright,
		Grow stale, and tarnish with our daily sight?
		Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be
		Or gather'd ripe, or rot upon the tree.
250		Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,
		Some lucky revolution of their fate:
		Whose motions, if we watch and guide with skill,
		(For human good depends on human will,)
		Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
255		And from the first impression takes the bent:
		But if, unseized, she glides away like wind,
		And leaves repenting folly far behind.
		Now, now she meets you with a glorious prize,
		And spreads her locks before her as she flies.
260		Had thus old David, from whose loins you spring,
		Not dared when fortune called him to be king,
		At Gath an exile he might still remain,
		And Heaven's anointing oil had been in vain.
		Let his successful youth your hopes engage;
265		But shun the example of declining age:
		Behold him setting in his western skies,
		The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise.
		He is not now, as when on Jordan's sand
		The joyful people throng'd to see him land,
270		Covering the beach and blackening all the strand;
		But, like the prince of angels, from his height
		Comes tumbling downward with diminish'd light:
		Betray'd by one poor Plot to public scorn:
		(Our only blessing since his cursed return:)
275		Those heaps of people which one sheaf did bind,
		Blown off and scatter'd by a puff of wind.
		What strength can he to your designs oppose,
		Naked of friends, and round beset with foes?
		If Pharaoh's doubtful succour he should use,
280		A foreign aid would more incense the Jews:
		Proud Egypt would dissembled friendship bring;
		Foment the war, but not support the king:
		Nor would the royal party e'er unite
		With Pharaoh's arms to assist the Jebusite;
285		Or if they should, their interest soon would break,
		And with such odious aid make David weak.
		All sorts of men, by my successful arts,
		Abhorring kings, estrange their alter'd hearts
		From David's rule: and 'tis their general cry—
290		Religion, commonwealth, and liberty.
		If you, as champion of the public good,
		Add to their arms a chief of royal blood,
		What may not Israel hope, and what applause
		Might such a general gain by such a cause?
295		Not barren praise alone—that gaudy flower,
		Fair only to the sight—but solid power:
		And nobler is a limited command,
		Given by the love of all your native land,
		Than a successive title, long and dark,
300		Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.

		What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,
		When flattery soothes, and when ambition blinds?
		Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed,
		Yet sprung from high, is of celestial seed:
305		In God 'tis glory; and when men aspire,
		'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.
		The ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,
		Too full of angels' metal in his frame,
		Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,
310		Made drunk with honour, and debauch'd with praise.
		Half loath, and half consenting to the ill,
		For royal blood within him struggled still,
		He thus replied:—And what pretence have I
		To take up arms for public liberty?
315		My father governs with unquestion'd right,
		The faith's defender, and mankind's delight;
		Good, gracious, just, observant of the laws;
		And Heaven by wonders has espoused his cause.
		Whom has he wrong'd, in all his peaceful reign?
320		Who sues for justice to his throne in vain?
		What millions has he pardon'd of his foes,
		Whom just revenge did to his wrath expose!
		Mild, easy, humble, studious of our good;
		Inclined to mercy, and averse from blood.
325		If mildness ill with stubborn Israel suit,
		His crime is God's beloved attribute.
		What could he gain his people to betray,
		Or change his right for arbitrary sway?
		Let haughty Pharaoh curse with such a reign
330		His fruitful Nile, and yoke a servile train.
		If David's rule Jerusalem displease,
		The dog-star heats their brains to this disease.
		Why then should I, encouraging the bad,
		Turn rebel and run popularly mad?
335		Were he a tyrant, who by lawless might
		Oppress'd the Jews, and raised the Jebusite,
		Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands
		Would curb my spirits, and restrain my hands:
		The people might assert their liberty;
340		But what was right in them were crime in me.
		His favour leaves me nothing to require,
		Prevents my wishes, and outruns desire.
		What more can I expect while David lives?
		All but his kingly diadem he gives:
345		And that—But here he paused; then, sighing, said—
		Is justly destined for a worthier head.
		For when my father from his toils shall rest,
		And late augment the number of the blest,
		His lawful issue shall the throne ascend,
350		Or the collateral line, where that shall end.
		His brother, though oppress'd with vulgar spite,
		Yet dauntless, and secure of native right,
		Of every royal virtue stands possess'd;
		Still dear to all the bravest and the best.
355		His courage foes—his friends his truth proclaim;
		His loyalty the king—the world his fame.
		His mercy even the offending crowd will find;
		For sure he comes of a forgiving kind.
		Why should I then repine at Heaven's decree,
360		Which gives me no pretence to royalty?
		Yet, oh! that fate, propitiously inclined,
		Had raised my birth, or had debased my mind;
		To my large soul not all her treasure lent,
		And then betray'd it to a mean descent!
365		I find, I find my mounting spirits bold,
		And David's part disdains my mother's mould.
		Why am I scanted by a niggard birth?
		My soul disclaims the kindred of her earth;
		And, made for empire, whispers me within,
370		Desire of greatness is a god-like sin.

		Him staggering so, when hell's dire agent found,
		While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her ground,
		He pours fresh forces in, and thus replies:
		The eternal God, supremely good and wise,
375		Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain;
		What wonders are reserved to bless your reign!
		Against your will your arguments have shown,
		Such virtue's only given to guide a throne.
		Not that your father's mildness I contemn;
380		But manly force becomes the diadem.
		'Tis true he grants the people all they crave;
		And more perhaps than subjects ought to have:
385		For lavish grants suppose a monarch tame,
		And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.
		But when should people strive their bonds to break,
		If not when kings are negligent or weak?
		Let him give on till he can give no more,
390		The thrifty Sanhedrim shall keep him poor;
		And every shekel which he can receive,
		Shall cost a limb of his prerogative.
		To ply him with new plots shall be my care;
		Or plunge him deep in some expensive war;
395		Which, when his treasure can no more supply,
		He must with the remains of kingship buy
		His faithful friends, our jealousies and fears
		Call Jebusites, and Pharaoh's pensioners;
		Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
400		He shall be naked left to public scorn.
		The next successor, whom I fear and hate,
		My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
		Turn'd all his virtues to his overthrow,
		And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.
405		His right, for sums of necessary gold,
		Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be sold;
		Till time shall ever-wanting David draw,
		To pass your doubtful title into law;
		If not, the people have a right supreme
410		To make their kings, for kings are made for them.
		All empire is no more than power in trust,
		Which, when resumed, can be no longer just.
		Succession, for the general good design'd,
		In its own wrong a nation cannot bind:
415		If altering that the people can relieve,
		Better one suffer than a nation grieve.
		The Jews well know their power: ere Saul they chose,
		God was their king, and God they durst depose.
		Urge now your piety, your filial name,
420		A father's right, and fear of future fame;
		The public good, that universal call,
		To which even Heaven submitted, answers all.
		Nor let his love enchant your generous mind;
		'Tis nature's trick to propagate her kind.
425		Our fond begetters, who would never die,
		Love but themselves in their posterity.
		Or let his kindness by the effects be tried,
		Or let him lay his vain pretence aside.
		God said, he loved your father; could he bring
430		A better proof, than to anoint him king?
		It surely show'd he loved the shepherd well,
		Who gave so fair a flock as Israel.
		Would David have you thought his darling son?
		What means he then to alienate the crown?
435		The name of godly he may blush to bear:
		Is't after God's own heart to cheat his heir?
		He to his brother gives supreme command,
		To you a legacy of barren land;
		Perhaps the old harp, on which he thrums his lays,
440		Or some dull Hebrew ballad in your praise.
		Then the next heir, a prince severe and wise,
		Already looks on you with jealous eyes;
		Sees through the thin disguises of your arts,
		And marks your progress in the people's hearts;
445		Though now his mighty soul its grief contains:
		He meditates revenge who least complains;
		And like a lion, slumbering in the way,
		Or sleep dissembling, while he waits his prey,
		His fearless foes within his distance draws,
450		Constrains his roaring, and contracts his paws;
		Till at the last his time for fury found,
		He shoots with sudden vengeance from the ground;
		The prostrate vulgar passes o'er and spares,
		But with a lordly rage his hunters tears.
455		Your case no tame expedients will afford:
		Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword,
		Which for no less a stake than life you draw;
		And self-defence is nature's eldest law.
		Leave the warm people no considering time:
460		For then rebellion may be thought a crime.
		Avail yourself of what occasion gives,
		But try your title while your father lives:
		And that your arms may have a fair pretence,
		Proclaim you take them in the king's defence;
465		Whose sacred life each minute would expose
		To plots, from seeming friends, and secret foes.
		And who can sound the depth of David's soul?
		Perhaps his fear, his kindness may control.
		He fears his brother, though he loves his son,
470		For plighted vows too late to be undone.
		If so, by force he wishes to be gain'd:
		By women's lechery to seem constrain'd.
		Doubt not; but, when he most affects the frown,
		Commit a pleasing rape upon the crown.
475		Secure his person to secure your cause:
		They who possess the prince possess the laws.

		He said, and this advice above the rest,
		With Absalom's mild nature suited best;
		Unblamed of life, ambition set aside,
480		Not stain'd with cruelty, nor puff'd with pride,
		How happy had he been, if destiny
		Had higher placed his birth, or not so high!
		His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne,
		And bless'd all other countries but his own.
485		But charming greatness since so few refuse,
		'Tis juster to lament him than accuse.
		Strong were his hopes a rival to remove,
		With blandishments to gain the public love:
		To head the faction while their zeal was hot,
490		And popularly prosecute the Plot.
		To further this, Achitophel unites
		The malcontents of all the Israelites:
		Whose differing parties he could wisely join,
		For several ends to serve the same design.
495		The best—and of the princes some were such—
		Who thought the power of monarchy too much;
		Mistaken men, and patriots in their hearts;
		Not wicked, but seduced by impious arts.
		By these the springs of property were bent,
500		And wound so high, they crack'd the government.
		The next for interest sought to embroil the state,
		To sell their duty at a dearer rate,
		And make their Jewish markets of the throne;
		Pretending public good, to serve their own.
505		Others thought kings an useless heavy load,
		Who cost too much, and did too little good.
		These were for laying honest David by,
		On principles of pure good husbandry.
		With them join'd all the haranguers of the throng,
510		That thought to get preferment by the tongue.
		Who follow next a double danger bring,
		Not only hating David, but the king;
		The Solyimaean rout; well versed of old
		In godly faction, and in treason bold;
515		Cowering and quaking at a conqueror's sword,
		But lofty to a lawful prince restored;
		Saw with disdain an Ethnic plot begun,
		And scorn'd by Jebusites to be outdone.
		Hot Levites headed these; who pull'd before
520		From the ark, which in the Judges' days they bore,
		Resumed their cant, and with a zealous cry,
		Pursued their old beloved theocracy:
		Where Sanhedrim and priest enslaved the nation,
		And justified their spoils by inspiration:
525		For who so fit to reign as Aaron's race,
		If once dominion they could found in grace?
		These led the pack; though not of surest scent,
		Yet deepest mouth'd against the government.
		A numerous host of dreaming saints succeed,
530		Of the true old enthusiastic breed:
		'Gainst form and order they their power employ,
		Nothing to build, and all things to destroy.
		But far more numerous was the herd of such,
		Who think too little, and who talk too much.
535		These out of mere instinct, they knew not why,
		Adored their fathers' God and property;
		And by the same blind benefit of fate,
		The Devil and the Jebusite did hate:
		Born to be saved, even in their own despite,
540		Because they could not help believing right.

		Such were the tools: but a whole Hydra more
		Remains of sprouting heads too long to score.
		Some of their chiefs were princes of the land:
		In the first rank of these did Zimri stand;
545		A man so various, that he seem'd to be
		Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
		Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
		Was everything by starts, and nothing long;
		But, in the course of one revolving moon,
550		Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon:
		Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
		Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
		Blest madman, who could every hour employ,
		With something new to wish, or to enjoy!
555		Railing and praising were his usual themes;
		And both, to show his judgment, in extremes:
		So over violent, or over civil,
		That every man with him was God or Devil.
		In squandering wealth was his peculiar art:
560		Nothing went unrewarded but desert.
		Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late;
		He had his jest, and they had his estate.
		He laugh'd himself from court; then sought relief
		By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief:
565		For, spite of him the weight of business fell
		On Absalom and wise Achitophel:
		Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,
		He left not faction, but of that was left.

		Titles and names 'twere tedious to rehearse
570		Of lords, below the dignity of verse.
		Wits, warriors, commonwealth's-men, were the best:
		Kind husbands, and mere nobles, all the rest.
		And therefore, in the name of dulness, be
		The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free:
575		And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,
		Who made new porridge for the paschal lamb.
		Let friendship's holy band some names assure;
		Some their own worth, and some let scorn secure.
		Nor shall the rascal rabble here have place,
580		Whom kings no titles gave, and God no grace:
		Not bull-faced Jonas, who could statutes draw
		To mean rebellion, and make treason law.
		But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
		The wretch who Heaven's anointed dared to curse;
585		Shimei, whose youth did early promise bring
		Of zeal to God and hatred to his king,
		Did wisely from expensive sins refrain,
		And never broke the Sabbath but for gain;
		Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,
590		Or curse, unless against the government.
		Thus heaping wealth by the most ready way
		Among the Jews, which was to cheat and pray;
		The city, to reward his pious hate
		Against his master, chose him magistrate.
595		His hand a vare[70] of justice did uphold;
		His neck was loaded with a chain of gold.
		During his office treason was no crime;
		The sons of Belial had a glorious time:
		For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,
600		Yet loved his wicked neighbour as himself.
		When two or three were gather'd to declaim
		Against the monarch of Jerusalem,
		Shimei was always in the midst of them;
		And if they cursed the king when he was by,
605		Would rather curse than break good company.
		If any durst his factious friends accuse,
		He pack'd a jury of dissenting Jews;
		Whose fellow-feeling in the godly cause
		Would free the suffering saint from human laws.
610		For laws are only made to punish those
		Who serve the king, and to protect his foes.
		If any leisure time he had from power
		(Because 'tis sin to misemploy an hour),
		His business was, by writing to persuade,
615		That kings were useless and a clog to trade;
		And, that his noble style he might refine,
		No Rechabite more shunn'd the fumes of wind.
		Chaste were his cellars, and his shrivel board
		The grossness of a city feast abhorr'd;
620		His cooks with long disuse their trade forgot;
		Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot.
		Such frugal virtue malice may accuse,
		But sure 'twas necessary to the Jews;
		For towns, once burnt, such magistrates require
625		As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.
		With spiritual food he fed his servants well,
		But free from flesh that made the Jews rebel:
		And Moses' laws he held in more account,
		For forty days of fasting in the mount.
630		To speak the rest who better are forgot,
		Would tire a well-breathed witness of the plot.
		Yet Corah, thou shalt from oblivion pass;
		Erect thyself, thou monumental brass,
		High as the serpent of thy metal made,
635		While nations stand secure beneath thy shade.
		What though his birth were base, yet comets rise
		From earthly vapours, ere they shine in skies.
		Prodigious actions may as well be done
		By weaver's issue, as by prince's son.
640		This arch attestor for the public good
		By that one deed ennobles all his blood.
		Who ever ask'd the witness's high race,
		Whose oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?
		Ours was a Levite, and as times went then,
645		His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.
		Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,
		Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud.
		His long chin proved his wit; his saint-like grace
		A church vermilion, and a Moses' face.
650		His memory miraculously great,
		Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat;
		Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
		For human wit could never such devise.
		Some future truths are mingled in his book;
655		But where the witness fail'd, the prophet spoke.
		Some things like visionary flights appear;
		The spirit caught him up the Lord knows where;
		And gave him his rabbinical degree,
		Unknown to foreign university.
660		His judgment yet his memory did excel;
		Which pieced his wondrous evidence so well,
		And suited to the temper of the times,
		Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.
		Let Israel's foes suspect his heavenly call,
665		And rashly judge his wit apocryphal;
		Our laws for such affronts have forfeits made;
		He takes his life who takes away his trade.
		Were I myself in witness Corah's place,
		The wretch who did me such a dire disgrace,
670		Should whet my memory, though once forgot,
		To make him an appendix of my plot.
		His zeal to heaven made him his prince despise,
		And load his person with indignities.
		But zeal peculiar privilege affords,
675		Indulging latitude to deeds and words:
		And Corah might for Agag's murder call,
		In terms as coarse as Samuel used to Saul.
		What others in his evidence did join,
		The best that could be had for love or coin,
680		In Corah's own predicament will fall:
		For witness is a common name to all.

		Surrounded thus with friends of every sort,
		Deluded Absalom forsakes the court:
		Impatient of high hopes, urged with renown,
685		And fired with near possession of a crown.
		The admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise,
		And on his goodly person feed their eyes.
		His joy conceal'd he sets himself to show;
		On each side bowing popularly low:
690		His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames,
		And with familiar ease repeats their names.
		Thus form'd by nature, furnish'd out with arts,
		He glides unfelt into their secret hearts.
		Then, with a kind compassionating look,
695		And sighs, bespeaking pity ere he spoke,
		Few words he said; but easy those and fit,
		More slow than Hybla-drops, and far more sweet.

		I mourn, my countrymen, your lost estate;
		Though far unable to prevent your fate:
700		Behold a banish'd man for your dear cause
		Exposed a prey to arbitrary laws!
		Yet oh! that I alone could be undone,
		Cut off from empire, and no more a son!
		Now all your liberties a spoil are made;
705		Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade,
		And Jebusites your sacred rites invade.
		My father, whom with reverence yet I name,
		Charm'd into ease, is careless of his fame;
		And bribed with petty sums of foreign gold,
710		Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old;
		Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys,
		And all his power against himself employs.
		He gives, and let him give, my right away:
		But why should he his own and yours betray?
715		He, only he, can make the nation bleed,
		And he alone from my revenge is freed.
		Take then my tears (with that he wiped his eyes),
		'Tis all the aid my present power supplies:
		No court-informer can these arms accuse;
720		These arms may sons against their fathers use:
		And 'tis my wish, the next successor's reign,
		May make no other Israelite complain.

		Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail;
		But common interest always will prevail:
725		And pity never ceases to be shown
		To him who makes the people's wrongs his own.
		The crowd, that still believe their kings oppress,
		With lifted hands their young Messiah bless:
		Who now begins his progress to ordain
730		With chariots, horsemen, and a numerous train:
		From east to west his glories he displays,
		And, like the sun, the promised land surveys.
		Fame runs before him as the morning-star,
		And shouts of joy salute him from afar:
735		Each house receives him as a guardian god,
		And consecrates the place of his abode.
		But hospitable treats did most commend
		Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend.
		This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,
740		And seem'd but pomp, did other ends disguise:
		Achitophel had form'd it, with intent
		To sound the depths, and fathom where it went,
		The people's hearts, distinguish friends from foes,
		And try their strength, before they came to blows.
745		Yet all was colour'd with a smooth pretence
		Of specious love, and duty to their prince.
		Religion, and redress of grievances,
		Two names that always cheat, and always please,
		Are often urged; and good king David's life
750		Endanger'd by a brother and a wife.
		Thus in a pageant show a plot is made;
		And peace itself is war in masquerade.
		O foolish Israel! never warn'd by ill!
		Still the same bait, and circumvented still!
755		Did ever men forsake their present ease,
		In midst of health imagine a disease;
		Take pains contingent mischiefs to foresee,
		Make heirs for monarchs, and for God decree?
		What shall we think? Can people give away,
760		Both for themselves and sons, their native sway?
		Then they are left defenceless to the sword
		Of each unbounded, arbitrary lord:
		And laws are vain, by which we right enjoy,
		If kings unquestion'd can those laws destroy.
765		Yet if the crowd be judge of fit and just,
		And kings are only officers in trust,
		Then this resuming covenant was declared
		When kings were made, or is for ever barr'd.
		If those who gave the sceptre could not tie,
770		By their own deed, their own posterity,
		How then could Adam bind his future race?
		How could his forfeit on mankind take place?
		Or how could heavenly justice damn us all,
		Who ne'er consented to our father's fall?
775		Then kings are slaves to those whom they command,
		And tenants to their people's pleasure stand.
		Add, that the power for property allow'd
		Is mischievously seated in the crowd;
		For who can be secure of private right,
780		If sovereign sway may be dissolved by might?
		Nor is the people's judgment always true:
		The most may err as grossly as the few?
		And faultless kings run down by common cry,
		For vice, oppression, and for tyranny.
785		What standard is there in a fickle rout,
		Which, flowing to the mark, runs faster out?
		Nor only crowds but Sanhedrims may be
		Infected with this public lunacy,
		And share the madness of rebellious times,
790		To murder monarchs for imagined crimes.
		If they may give and take whene'er they please,
		Not kings alone, the Godhead's images,
		But government itself at length must fall
		To nature's state, where all have right to all.
795		Yet, grant our lords the people kings can make,
		What prudent men a settled throne would shake?
		For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before,
		That change they covet makes them suffer more.
		All other errors but disturb a state;
800		But innovation is the blow of fate.
		If ancient fabrics nod, and threat to fall,
		To patch their flaws, and buttress up the wall,
		Thus far 'tis duty: but here fix the mark;
		For all beyond it is to touch the ark.
805		To change foundations, cast the frame anew,
		Is work for rebels, who base ends pursue;
		At once divine and human laws control,
		And mend the parts by ruin of the whole,
		The tampering world is subject to this curse,
810		To physic their disease into a worse.

		Now what relief can righteous David bring?
		How fatal 'tis to be too good a king!
		Friends he has few, so high the madness grows;
		Who dare be such must be the people's foes.
815		Yet some there were, even in the worst of days;
		Some let me name, and naming is to praise.

		In this short file Barzillai first appears;
		Barzillai, crown'd with honour and with years.
		Long since, the rising rebels he withstood
820		In regions waste beyond the Jordan's flood:
		Unfortunately brave to buoy the state;
		But sinking underneath his master's fate:
		In exile with his godlike prince he mourn'd;
		For him he suffer'd, and with him return'd.
825		The court he practised, not the courtier's art:
		Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart,
		Which well the noblest objects knew to choose,
		The fighting warrior, and recording muse.
		His bed could once a fruitful issue boast;
830		Now more than half a father's name is lost.
		His eldest hope, with every grace adorn'd,
		By me, so Heaven will have it, always mourn'd,
		And always honour'd, snatch'd in manhood's prime
		By unequal fates, and providence's crime:
835		Yet not before the goal of honour won,
		All parts fulfill'd of subject and of son:
		Swift was the race, but short the time to run.
		O narrow circle, but of power divine,
		Scanted in space, but perfect in thy line!
840		By sea, by land, thy matchless worth was known,
		Arms thy delight, and war was all thy own:
		Thy force infused the fainting Tyrians propp'd;
		And haughty Pharaoh found his fortune stopp'd.
		O ancient honour! O unconquer'd hand,
845		Whom foes unpunish'd never could withstand!
		But Israel was unworthy of his name;
		Short is the date of all immoderate fame.
		It looks as Heaven our ruin had design'd,
		And durst not trust thy fortune and thy mind.
850		Now, free from earth, thy disencumber'd soul
		Mounts up, and leaves behind the clouds and starry pole:
		From thence thy kindred legions mayst thou bring,
		To aid the guardian angel of thy king.

		Here stop, my muse, here cease thy painful flight:
855		No pinions can pursue immortal height:
		Tell good Barzillai thou canst sing no more,
		And tell thy soul she should have fled before:
		Or fled she with his life, and left this verse
		To hang on her departed patron's hearse?
860		Now take thy steepy flight from heaven, and see
		If thou canst find on earth another he:
		Another he would be too hard to find;
		See then whom thou canst see not far behind.
		Zadoc the priest, whom, shunning power and place,
865		His lowly mind advanced to David's grace.
		With him the Sagan of Jerusalem,
		Of hospitable soul, and noble stem;
		Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense
		Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
870		The prophets' sons, by such example led,
		To learning and to loyalty were bred:
		For colleges on bounteous kings depend,
		And never rebel was to arts a friend.
		To these succeed the pillars of the laws,
875		Who best can plead, and best can judge a cause.
		Next them a train of loyal peers ascend;
		Sharp-judging Adriel, the Muses' friend,
		Himself a Muse: in Sanhedrim's debate
		True to his prince, but not a slave of state:
880		Whom David's love with honours did adorn,
		That from his disobedient son were torn.
		Jotham, of piercing wit, and pregnant thought;
		Endued by nature, and by learning taught
		To move assemblies, who but only tried
885		The worse awhile, then chose the better side:
		Nor chose alone, but turn'd the balance too,—
		So much the weight of one brave man can do.
		Hushai, the friend of David in distress;
		In public storms of manly steadfastness:
890		By foreign treaties he inform'd his youth,
		And join'd experience to his native truth.
		His frugal care supplied the wanting throne—
		Frugal for that, but bounteous of his own:
		'Tis easy conduct when exchequers flow;
895		But hard the task to manage well the low;
		For sovereign power is too depress'd or high,
		When kings are forced to sell, or crowds to buy.
		Indulge one labour more, my weary muse,
		For Amiel: who can Amiel's praise refuse?
900		Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet
		In his own worth, and without title great:
		The Sanhedrim long time as chief he ruled,
		Their reason guided, and their passion cool'd:
		So dexterous was he in the crown's defence,
905		So form'd to speak a loyal nation's sense,
		That, as their band was Israel's tribes in small,
		So fit was he to represent them all.
		Now rasher charioteers the seat ascend,
		Whose loose careers his steady skill commend:
910		They, like the unequal ruler of the day,
		Misguide the seasons, and mistake the way;
		While he withdrawn, at their mad labours smiles,
		And safe enjoys the sabbath of his toils.

		These were the chief, a small but faithful band
915		Of worthies, in the breach who dared to stand,
		And tempt the united fury of the land:
		With grief they view'd such powerful engines bent,
		To batter down the lawful government.
		A numerous faction, with pretended frights,
920		In Sanhedrims to plume the regal rights;
		The true successor from the court removed;
		The plot, by hireling witnesses, improved.
		These ills they saw, and, as their duty bound,
		They show'd the King the danger of the wound;
925		That no concessions from the throne would please,
		But lenitives fomented the disease:
		That Absalom, ambitious of the crown,
		Was made the lure to draw the people down:
		That false Achitophel's pernicious hate
930		Had turn'd the Plot to ruin church and state:
		The council violent, the rabble worse:
		That Shimei taught Jerusalem to curse.

		With all these loads of injuries oppress'd,
		And long revolving in his careful breast
935		The event of things, at last his patience tired,
		Thus, from his royal throne, by Heaven inspired,
		The god-like David spoke; with awful fear,
		His train their Maker in their master hear.

		Thus long have I, by native mercy sway'd,
940		My wrongs dissembled, my revenge delay'd:
		So willing to forgive the offending age;
		So much the father did the king assuage.
		But now so far my clemency they slight,
		The offenders question my forgiving right:
945		That one was made for many, they contend;
		But 'tis to rule; for that's a monarch's end.
		They call my tenderness of blood, my fear:
		Though manly tempers can the longest bear.
		Yet, since they will divert my native course,
950		'Tis time to show I am not good by force.
		Those heap'd affronts that haughty subjects bring,
		Are burdens for a camel, not a king.
		Kings are the public pillars of the state,
		Born to sustain and prop the nation's weight:
955		If my young Samson will pretend a call
		To shake the column, let him share the fall:
		But oh, that yet he would repent and live!
		How easy 'tis for parents to forgive!
		With how few tears a pardon might be won
960		From nature, pleading for a darling son!
		Poor, pitied youth, by my paternal care,
		Raised up to all the height his frame could bear!
		Had God ordain'd his fate for empire born,
		He would have given his soul another turn:
965		Gull'd with a patriot's name, whose modern sense
		Is one that would by law supplant his prince;
		The people's brave, the politician's tool;
		Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.
		Whence comes it, that religion and the laws
970		Should more be Absalom's than David's cause?
		His old instructor, ere he lost his place,
		Was never thought endued with so much grace.
		Good heavens, how faction can a patriot paint!
		My rebel ever proves my people's saint.
975		Would they impose an heir upon the throne,
		Let Sanhedrims be taught to give their own.
		A king's at least a part of government;
		And mine as requisite as their consent:
		Without my leave a future king to choose,
980		Infers a right the present to depose.
		True, they petition me to approve their choice:
		But Esau's hands suit ill with Jacob's voice.
		My pious subjects for my safety pray,
		Which to secure, they take my power away.
985		From plots and treasons Heaven preserve my years,
		But save me most from my petitioners!
		Insatiate as the barren womb or grave,
		God cannot grant so much as they can crave.
		What then is left, but with a jealous eye
990		To guard the small remains of royalty?
		The law shall still direct my peaceful sway,
		And the same law teach rebels to obey:
		Votes shall no more establish'd power control,
		Such votes as make a part exceed the whole.
995		No groundless clamours shall my friends remove,
		Nor crowds have power to punish ere they prove;
		For gods and god-like kings their care express,
		Still to defend their servants in distress.
		O that my power to saving were confined!
1000		Why am I forced, like Heaven, against my mind;
		To make examples of another kind?
		Must I at length the sword of justice draw?
		Oh, cursed effects of necessary law!
		How ill my fear they by my mercy scan!
1005		Beware the fury of a patient man!
		Law they require, let law then show her face;
		They could not be content to look on grace,
		Her hinder parts, but with a daring eye
		To tempt the terror of her front and die.
1010		By their own arts 'tis righteously decreed,
		Those dire artificers of death shall bleed.
		Against themselves their witnesses will swear,
		Till, viper-like, their mother-plot they tear;
		And suck for nutriment that bloody gore,
1015		Which was their principle of life before.
		Their Belial with their Beelzebub will fight:
		Thus on my foes, my foes shall do me right.
		Nor doubt the event: for factious crowds engage,
		In their first onset, all their brutal rage.
1020		Then let them take an unresisted course;
		Retire, and traverse, and delude their force;
		But when they stand all breathless, urge the fight,
		And rise upon them with redoubled might—
		For lawful power is still superior found;
1025		When long driven back, at length it stands the ground.

		He said: The Almighty, nodding, gave consent;
		And peals of thunder shook the firmament.
		Henceforth a series of new time began,
		The mighty years in long procession ran:
1030		Once more the god-like David was restored,
		And willing nations knew their lawful lord.

First published 1681.

WHO WE ARE

CONTENTS

TOOLS & RESOURCES

John Dryden

Absalom and Achitophel