The private path, the secret acts of men, If noble, far the noblest of our lives! 480 How far above Lorenzo's glory sits Th' illustrious master of a name unknown; Whose worth unrivall'd, and unwitness'd, loves Life's sacred shades, where gods converse with men; And Peace, beyond the world's conceptions, smiles! As thou (now dark), before we part, shalt see. But thy great soul this skulking glory scorns. Lorenzo's sick, but when Lorenzo's seen; And, when he shrugs at public business, lies. Denied the public eye, the public voice, 490 As if he lived on others' breath, he dies. Fain would he make the world his pedestal; 492 Mankind the gazers, the sole figure, he. Knows he, that mankind praise against their will, And mix as much detraction as they can? Knows he, that faithless Fame her whisper has, As well as trumpet? that his vanity Is so much tickled from not hearing all? Knows this all-knower, that from itch of praise, Or, from an itch more sordid, when he shines, 500 Taking his country by five hundred ears, Senates at once admire him, and despise, With modest laughter lining loud applause, Which makes the smile more mortal to his fame? His fame, which (like the mighty Caesar), crown'd With laurels, in full senate, greatly falls, By seeming friends, that honour, and destroy. We rise in glory, as we sink in pride: Where boasting ends, there dignity begins: And yet, mistaken beyond all mistake, 510 The blind Lorenzo's proud--of being proud; And dreams himself ascending in his fall. An eminence, though fancied, turns the brain: All vice wants hellebore; but of all vice, Pride loudest calls, and for the largest bowl; Because, unlike all other vice, it flies, In fact, the point, in fancy most pursued. Who court applause, oblige the world in this; They gratify man's passion to refuse. Superior honour, when assumed, is lost; 520 Even good men turn banditti, and rejoice, Like Kouli-Kan, in plunder of the proud. Though somewhat disconcerted, steady still To the world's cause, with half a face of joy, Lorenzo cries--"Be, then, Ambition cast; Ambition's dearer far stands unimpeach'd, 526 Gay Pleasure! proud Ambition is her slave; For her, he soars at great, and hazards ill; For her, he fights, and bleeds, or overcomes; And paves his way, with crowns, to reach her smile: Who can resist her charms?--or, should? Lorenzo! What mortal shall resist, where angels yield? Pleasure's the mistress of ethereal powers; 533 For her contend the rival gods above; Pleasure's the mistress of the world below; And well it was for man, that Pleasure charms: How would all stagnate, but for Pleasure's ray! How would the frozen stream of action cease!