_No Lust of Rule, the common Vice of Kings;
No furious Zeal inspir'd by hot-brain'd Priests:
Ill hid beneath Religions specious Name,
E'er drew his temp'rate Courage to the Field.
But to redress an injur'd Peoples Wrongs,
To save the weak One from the strong Oppressour
Is all his End of War; and when he draws
The Sword to punish, like relenting Heav'n,
He seems unwilling to deface Mankind._
The Opposition in the following Passage, carries with it its own
Application:
--------_As oft regardless
Of plighted Faith, with most unkingly Baseness
Without a War proclaim'd, or Cause pretended,
He has t'ane Advantage of their absent Arms
To waste with Sword and Fire their fruitful Fields,
Like some accursed Fiend, who 'scap'd from Hell,
Poisons the balmy Air thro' which he flies,
He blasts the bearded Corn, and loaded Branches,
The lab'ring Hind's best Hopes, and marks his Way with Ruin._
Is there not something noble in what Mr. _Waller_ says to the Duke of
_Monmouth_, at his Return from suppressing a Rebellion in _Scotland_:
_But seeing Envy like the Sun does beat,
With scorching Rays, on all that's high and great,
This, ill requited_ Monmouth, _is the Bough
The Muses send to shade thy conqu'ring Brow;
Lampoons like Squibs may make a present Blaze,
But Time and Thunder pay Respect to Bays._
I hope I may make Use of Part of Mr. _Addison_'s Translation of the
_Justum & Tenacem_ of _Horace_. The Translator having done me the Honour
to render it in _English_ at my Request:
_The Man resolv'd and steady to his Trust,
Inflexible to Ill, and obstinately just;
May the rude Rabble's Insolence despise
Their senseless Clamours, and tumultuous Cries.
The Tyrant's Fierceness he beguiles.
And the stern Brow, and the harsh Voice defies,
And with superiour Greatness smiles._
Again,
_Should the whole Frame of Nature round him break
In Ruin and Confusion hurl'd,
He unconcern'd would hear the mighty Crack,
And stand secure amidst a falling World._
Si fractus illabatur Orbis,
Impavidum ferient Ruinæ.
Is not this noble Thought the Original of that which ends the noted
_Siloloquy_ of _Cato_:
_The Soul secure in his Resistance smiles
At the drawn Dagger, and defies its Point:
The Stars shall fade away, the Sun himself
Grow dim with Age, and Nature sink in Years?
But thou shalt flourish in immortal Youth,
Unhurt amidst the War of Elements,
The Wrecks of Matter, and the Crush of Worlds._
The two Verses quoted out of _Horace_:
Si fractus, _&c._
are not so well imitated by the Gentleman that turned _Cato_'s
_Siloloquy_ into _Latin_, as to defy a Comparison;
Orbesque fractis ingerentur orbibus
Illæsa tu sedebis extra fragmina
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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