Or, swelled above the cliffs, their billows raise, Before the muses leave their patron's praise. Eliab[398] our next labour does invite And hard the task to do Eliab right. Long with the royal wanderer he roved, And firm in all the turns of fortune proved. Such ancient service, and desert so large, Well claimed the royal household for his charge. His age with only one mild heiress blessed, In all the bloom of smiling nature dressed; And blessed again, to see his flower allied To David's stock, and made young Othriel's[399] bride. The bright restorer of his father's youth, Devoted to a son's and subject's truth: Resolved to bear that prize of duty home, So bravely sought, while sought by Absalom. Ah, prince! the illustrious planet of thy birth, And thy more powerful virtue, guard thy worth, That no Achitophel thy ruin boast! Israel too much in one such wreck has lost. Even envy must consent to Helon's[400] worth; Whose soul, though Egypt glories in his birth, Could for our captive ark its zeal retain, And Pharaoh's altars in their pomp disdain: To slight his gods was small; with nobler pride, He all the allurements of his court defied. Whom profit nor example could betray, But Israel's friend, and true to David's sway. What acts of favour in his province fall, On merit he confers, and freely all. Our list of nobles next let Amri[401] grace, Whose merits claimed the Abethdin's high place; Who, with a loyalty that did excel, Brought all the endowments of Achitophel. Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, But Israel's sanctions into practice drew; Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem, Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him. No rabbin speaks like him their mystic sense, So just, and with such charms of eloquence; To whom the double blessing does belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue. Than Sheva[402] none more loyal zeal have shown, Wakeful as Judah's lion for the crown; Who for that cause still combats in his age, For which his youth with danger did engage. In vain our factious priests the cant revive; In vain seditious scribes with libel strive To inflame the crowd; while he, with watchful eye, Observes, and shoots their treasons as they fly: Their weekly frauds his keen replies detect; He undeceives more fast than they infect. So Moses, when the pest on legions preyed, Advanced his signal, and the plague was stayed. Once more, my fainting muse, thy pinions try, And strength's exhausted store let love supply. What tribute, Asaph,[403] shall we render thee? We'll crown thee with a wreath from thy own tree! Thy laurel-grove no envy's flash can blast;[404] The song of Asaph shall for ever last. With wonder late posterity shall dwell On Absalom and false Achitophel: