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 Israels monarch after heavens own heart, | ||
His vigorous warmth did variously impart | ||
To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command, | ||
10 | Scattered his Makers image through the land. | |
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear; | ||
A soil ungrateful to the tillers 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 Israels crown: | ||
25 | In peace the thoughts of war he could remove, | |
And seemed as he were only born for love. | ||
Whateer 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 oer, | ||
And Amnons 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; | ||
Gods 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 Davids 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 Gods enemies the more. | ||
Thus worn and weakened, well or ill content, | ||
Submit they must to Davids 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 whatsoer 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 nations 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 sacrificers 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 Gods 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 oer; | ||
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 monarchs 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 oer-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 patriots 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 peoples will: | ||
Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known, | ||
185 | Since in anothers guilt they find their own. | |
Yet fame deserved no enemy can grude: | ||
The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge. | ||
In Israels courts neer 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 fortunes ice prefers to virtues 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 peoples 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