"Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures fway, 195
Thus let the wifer make the rest obey;
"And for thofe Arts mere Inftinct could afford, "Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as God ador'd." V. Great Nature fpoke; obfervant Man obey'd; Cities were built, Societies were made:
Here rofe one little ftate; another near
Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' love or fear.
Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the ftreams in purer rills defcend?
What War could ravish, Commerce could beflow,
And he return'd a friend who came a foe, 206
Converfe and Love mankind might strongly draw,
When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
VER. 208. When Love was Liberty,] i. e. When Men had no need to guard their native liberty from their governors by
VARIATIONS.
VER. 197. in the first Editions.
Who for thofe Arts they learn'd of brutes before,
As Kings shall crown them, or as God adore.
VER. 201. Here rofe one little ftate, etc.] In the MS. thus,
The Neighbours leagu'd to guard the common spot :
And Love was Nature's dictate, Murder, not.
For want alone each animal contends;
Tigers with Tigers, that remov'd, are friends.
Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd,
She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and streams around.
No Treasure then for rapine to invade,
What need to fight for fun-fbine or for shade-?
And half the caufe of conteft was remov'd,
When beauty could be kind to all who lov'd.
Thus States were form'd; the name of King unknown, 'Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one.
'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,
Diffufing bleffings, or averting harms)
The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd,
A Prince the Father of a People made.
VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch fate,
King, priest, and parent, of his growing state;
On him, their fecond Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220
Draw forth the monsters of th' abyfs profound,
Or fetch th' aërial eagle to the ground.
'Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great first father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work diftin&t was known,
And fimple Reason never fought but one :
Ere Wit oblique had broke that fteddy light,
Man, like his Maker, faw that all was right;
civil pactions; the love which each master of a family had for thofe under his care being their best security.
VER. 231. Ere Wit oblique, etc.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prifmatic glafs on the rays of light.
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
Love all the faith, and all th' allegiance then; 235
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A fov'reign being, but a fov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,
That was but love of God, and this of Man.
Who first taught fouls enflav'd, and realms undones
Th' enormous faith of many made for one;
That proud exception to all Nature's laws,
T'invert the world, and counter-work its Cause?
Force first made Conqueft, and that conqueft, Law;
"Till Superftition taught the tyrant awe,
Then fhar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made: She, 'midst the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's found, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd, the ground,
250
She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they :
She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and fiends infernal rife:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes; 255
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whofe attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 260
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on spite, and heav'n on pride.
Then facred feem'd th' ethereal vault no more;
Altars grew
marble then, and reek'd with gore:
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;
Next his grim idol fmear'd with human blood!
With heav'n's own thunders shook the world below,
And play'd the God an engine on his foe.
So drives Self-love, thro' juft and thro' unjust,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft:
The fame Self-love, in all, becomes the caufe
Of what reftrains him, Government and Laws.
For, what one likes, if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel?
How fhall he keep, what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may surprise, a ftronger take?
His fafety muft his liberty restrain:
All join to guard, what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thas, by Self-defence,
Ev'n Kings learn'd justice and benevolence :
Self-love forfook the path it first purfu'd,
And found the private in the public good.
'Twas then the ftudious head or gen'rous mind, Follow'r of God, or friend of human-kind,
VER. 283. 'Twas then, etc.] The poet feemeth here to mean the polite and flourishing age of Greece: and those be nefactors to Mankind, which he had principally in view, were Socrates and Ariftotle; who, of all the pagan world, fpoke beft of God, and wrote beft of Government.
Poet or Patriot, rose but to restore
The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before;
Re-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new ;
If not God's image, yet his shadow drew:
Taught Pow'r due ufe to People and to Kings,
Taught ncr to flack, nor ftrain its tender ftrings, 290
The lefs, or greater, set so justly true,
That touching one must strike the other too;
'Till jarring int'refts, of themselves create
Th' according music of a well-mix'd State.
Such is the World's great harmony, that springs 295
From Order, Union, full Consent of things:
Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made
To serve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade;
More pow'rful each as needful to the reft,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, Man, or Angel, Servant, Lord, or King.
For Forms of Government, let fools contest;
Whate'er is best admini.ter'd is beft:
VER. 303. For Forms of Government let fools contest ;] The author of thefe lines was far from meaning that no one form of Government is, in itself, better than another (as, that mixed or limited Monarchy, for example, is not preferable to abfolute) but that no form of Government, however excellent or preferable, in itself, can be fufficient to make a people happy, unless it be administered with integrity. On the contrary, the best fort of Government, when the form of it is proferved, and the administration corrupt, is most dangerous,
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