See him from Nature rising slow to Art! To copy instinct then was reason's part; 170 Thus then to Man the voice of Nature spake-- 'Go, from the creatures thy instructions take: Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; Learn from the beasts the physic of the field; Thy arts of building from the bee receive; Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. Here, too, all forms of social union find, And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind: 180 Here subterranean works and cities see; There towns aërial on the waving tree. Learn each small people's genius, policies, The ants' republic, and the realm of bees; How those in common all their wealth bestow, And anarchy without confusion know; And these for ever, though a monarch reign, Their separate cells and properties maintain. Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state, Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. 190 In vain thy reason finer webs shall draw, Entangle Justice in her net of lay, And right, too rigid, harden into wrong; Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong. Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, Thus let the wiser make the rest obey; And for those arts mere instinct could afford, Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods adored.' V. Great Nature spoke; observant men obey'd; Cities were built, societies were made: 200 Here rose one little state; another near Grew by like means, and join'd, through love or fear. Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend, And there the streams in purer rills descend? What war could ravish, commerce could bestow; And he return'd a friend, who came a foe. Converse and love mankind might strongly draw, When love was liberty, and Nature law. Thus states were form'd, the name of king unknown, Till common interest placed the sway in one. 210 'Twas virtue only (or in arts or arms, Diffusing blessings or averting harms), The same which in a sire the sons obey'd, A prince the father of a people made.