The field confessed his power in arms before, And seas proclaimed his triumphs to the shore; As nobly has his sway in Hebron shown, How fit to inherit godlike David's throne. Through Sion's streets his glad arrival's spread, And conscious faction shrinks her snaky head; His train their sufferings think o'erpaid to see The crowds applause with virtue once agree. Success charms all, but zeal for worth distrest, A virtue proper to the brave and best; 'Mongst whom was Jothran,[392] Jothran always bent To serve the crown, and loyal by descent; Whose constancy so firm, and conduct just, Deserved at once two royal masters' trust; Who Tyre's proud arms had manfully withstood On seas, and gathered laurels from the flood; Of learning yet no portion was denied, Friend to the muses, and the muses' pride. Nor can Benaiah's[393] worth forgotten lie, Of steady soul when public storms were high; Whose conduct, while the Moor fierce onsets made, Secured at once our honour and our trade. Such were the chiefs who most his sufferings mourned, And viewed with silent joy the prince returned; While those, that sought his absence to betray, Press first, their nauseous false respects to pay; Him still the officious hypocrites molest, And with malicious duty break his rest. While real transports thus his friends employ, And foes are loud in their dissembled joy, His triumphs, so resounded far and near, Missed not his young ambitious rival's ear; And as, when joyful hunters' clamorous train Some slumbering lion wakes in Moab's plain, Who oft had forced the bold assailants yield, And scattered his pursuers through the field, Disdaining, furls his mane, and tears the ground, His eyes inflaming all the desart round, With roar of seas directs his chasers' way, Provokes from far, and dares them to the fray; Such rage stormed now in Absalom's fierce breast, Such indignation his fired eyes confest. Where now was the instructor of his pride? Slept the old pilot in so rough a tide, Whose wiles had from the happy shore betrayed, And thus on shelves the credulous youth conveyed? In deep revolving thoughts he weighs his state, Secure of craft, nor doubts to baffle fate; At least, if his stormed bark must go adrift, To baulk his charge, and for himself to shift, In which his dextrous wit had oft been shown, And in the wreck of kingdoms saved his own; But now with more than common danger prest, Of various resolutions stands possest, Perceives the crowd's unstable zeal decay, Lest their recanting chief the cause betray, Who on a father's grace his hopes may ground, And for his pardon with their heads compound. Him therefore, e'er his fortune sup her time, The statesman plots to engage in some bold crime Past pardon; whether to attempt his bed,