[Sidenote: Origin of political societies.] V. Great nature spoke; observant man obeyed; Cities were built, societies were made:[1354] 200 Here rose one little state; another near[1355] Grew by like means, and joined 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, 205 And he returned a friend who came a foe. Converse and love mankind might strongly draw,[1356] When love was liberty, and nature law.[1357] [Sidenote: Origin of monarchy.] Thus states were formed: the name of king unknown, Till common int'rest placed the sway in one.[1358] 210 'Twas virtue only (or in arts or arms, Diffusing blessings, or averting harms), The same which in a sire the sons obeyed,[1359] A prince the father of a people made.[1360] [Sidenote: Origin of patriarchal government.] VI. Till then, by nature crowned, each patriarch sat, 215 King, priest, and parent of his growing state;[1361] On him, their second Providence, they hung, Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue. He from the wond'ring furrow called the food,[1362] Taught to command the fire, control the flood, 220 Draw forth the monsters of th' abyss profound, Or fetch th' aërial eagle to the ground,[1363] Till drooping, sick'ning, dying they began[1364] Whom they revered as god to mourn as man: Then, looking up from sire to sire, explored 225 One great first Father, and that first adored;[1365] Or plain tradition, that this all begun,[1366] Conveyed unbroken faith from sire to son; The worker from the work distinct was known, And simple reason never sought but one.[1367] 230 Ere wit oblique had broke that steady light,[1368] Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right;[1369] To virtue, in the paths of pleasure trod, And owned a father when he owned a God.[1370] [Sidenote: Origin of true religion and government from the principle of love; and of superstition and tyranny from that of fear.]