High actions; but wherewith to be achiev'd?
Great acts require great means of enterprise;
Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,
A carpenter thy father known, thyfelf
Bred up in poverty and ftraits at home,
Loft in a defert here and hunger-bit :
Which way or from what hope dost thou aspire
To greatness? whence authority deriv'st?
What followers, what retinue canft thou gain,
Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,
Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
Money brings honor, friends, conqueft, and realms:
What rais'd Antipater the Edomite,
And his fon Herod plac'd on Juda's throne,
(Thy throne) but gold that got him puissant friends?
Therefore, if at great things thou would'st arrive,
Get riches firft, get wealth, and treasure heap,
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me;
Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;
They whom I favor thrive in wealth amain, 430 While virtue, valor, wisdom fit in want.
To whom thus Jesus patiently reply'd. Yet wealth without these three is impotent To gain dominion, or to keep it gain'd. Witness those ancient empires of the earth, In highth of all their flowing wealth diffolv'd: But men indued with these have oft attain'd In lowest poverty to highest deeds ;
Gideon, and Japhtha, and the shepherd lad, Whofe ofspring on the throne of Judah fat 440 So many ages, and shall yet regain
That feat, and reign in Ifrael without end.
Among the Heathen, (for throughout the world
To me is not unknown what hath been done
Worthy' of memorial) canst thou not remember 445
Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?
For I esteem thofe names of men fo poor
Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
Riches though offer'd from the hand of kings.
And what in me seems wanting, but that I 450
May alfo in this poverty as foon
Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?
Extol not riches then, the toil of fools,
The wife man's cumbrance if not fnare, more apt
To flacken virtue, and abate her edge,
Than prompt her to do ought may merit praise.
What if with like aversion I reject
Riches and realms; yet not for that a crown,
Golden in fhow, is but a wreath of thorns,
Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and fleepless nights
To him who wears the régal diadem,
When on his fhoulders each man's burden lies; For therein ftands the office of a king,
His honor, virtue, merit and chief praise,
That for the public all this weight he bears. 465
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Paffions, defires, and fears, is more a king;
Which every wife and virtuous man attains:
And who attains not, ill afpires to rule
Cities of men, or head-ftrong multitudes,
Subject himself to anarchy within,
Or lawless paffions in him which he serves.
But to guide nations in the way of truth
By faving doctrin, and from error lead
To know, and knowing worship God aright, 475
Is yet more kingly; this attracts the foul,
Governs the inner man, the nobler part;
That other o'er the body only reigns,
And oft by force, which to a generous mind
So reigning can be no fincere delight.
Besides to give a kingdom hath been thought
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
Far more magnanimous, than to affume.
Riches are needlefs then, both for themselves,
And for thy reason why they should be fought, 485
To gain a scepter, ofteft better mifs'd.
The end of the Second Book.
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