When two or three were gathered 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, Would rather curse than break good company. If any durst his factious friends accuse, He packed a jury of dissenting jews;[264] Whose fellow-feeling in the Godly cause Would free the suffering saint from human laws: 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, That kings were useless, and a clog to trade:[265] And, that his noble style he might refine, No Rechabite more shunned the fumes of wine. Chaste were his cellars, and his shrieval board The grossness of a city-feast abhorred. 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, 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. To speak the rest, (who better are forgot,) Would tire a well-breathed witness of the plot. Yet Corah,[266] thou shalt from oblivion pass; Erect thyself, thou monumental brass, High as the serpent of thy metal made, While nations stand secure beneath thy shade! What though his birth were base, yet comets rise From earthy vapours, ere they shine in skies. Prodigious actions may as well be done By weaver's issue, as by prince's son. This arch-attestor for the public good By that one deed ennobles all his blood. Who ever asked the witnesses high race, Whose oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace? Ours was a Levite, and, as times went then, His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen. Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud:[267] Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud: His long chin proved his wit; his saint-like grace A church vermillion, and a Moses' face. 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; But where the witness failed the prophet spoke: Some things like visionary flight appear; The spirit caught him up,--the Lord knows where, And gave him his rabinical degree, Unknown to foreign university.[268] His judgment yet his memory did excel; Which pieced his wonderous evidence so well, And suited to the temper of the times, Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.