Thus States were form'd; the name of King un known, 'Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one. 210 'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms, Diffusing bleffings, or averting harms) The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd, VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch fate, 215 King, priest, and parent of his growing state; NOTES. VER. 219. He from the wond ring furrow,&c.]i.e. He fubdued the intractabi VER. 211. 'Twas Virtue \ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρεθῆς, ἡ καθ ̓ ὑπερο only, &c.] Our author hath xv tolétu yévus. good authority, for his account of the origin of king. fhip. Ariftotle affures us of this truth, that it was Vir-lity of all the four elements, tue only, or in arts or arms: and made them fubfervient Καθίςαλαι Βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν | to the ufe of Man. καθ ̓ ὑπεροχὴν ἀρετῆς, ἢ πράξεων Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd 225 230 Love all the faith, and all th' allegiance then; 235 For Nature knew no right divine in Men, A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good. NOTES. VER. 225. Then, looking | during the former ftate, they up, &c.] The poet here refted in fecond caufes, the maketh their more ferious immediate authors of their attention to Religion to have bleffings, whom they revered arifen, not from their graas God; but that, in the titude amidst abundance, other, they reasoned up to but from their helpleffnefs the Firft: in diftrefs; by fhewing that, Then, looking up from fire to fire, &c. This, I am afraid, is but too trae a representation of hu man nature. VER 231. E'er Wit oblique, &c.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prifmatic glafs on the rays of light. True faith, true policy, united ran, That was but love of God, and this of Man. 240 That proud exception to all Nature's laws, 246 'Then shar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid, And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made: She 'midft the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's found, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray, 250 δ' ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ εἶναι φύλαξ, ὅπως μὲν κεκλημένοι τὰς ἐσίας μηθὲν ἄδικον πάσχωσιν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος μὴ ὑβρίζηται μηθέν· ἡ δὲ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΙΣ | πρὸς ἐδὲν ἀποβλέπει κοινὸν, εἰ μὴ τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας χάριν. Pol. lib. v. cap. 10. Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes; 255 265 So drives Self-love, thro' just and thro' unjust, NOTES. VER. 262.-and heav'n on pride.] This might be very well faid of those times, when no one was content E 270 to go to heaven without being received there on the footing of a God. 275 How shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake, A weaker may surprise, a stronger take? 280 'Twas then, the ftudious head or gen'rous mind, Follow'r of God or friend of human-kind, Poet or Patriot, rofe but to restore 285 The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before; That touching one must strike the other too; NOTES. VER. 283. 'Twas then, &c.] The poet feemeth here to mean the polite and flourishing age of Greece; and thofe benefactors to Mankind, which he had principally in view, were Socrates and Ariftotle who, of all the pagan world, fpoke beft of God, and wrote best of Government. |