Page:Gondibert, an heroick poem - William Davenant (1651).djvu/234

27.
And though I humanely have heretofore
 All beauty lik'd, I never lov'd till now;
Nor think a Crown can raise his value more,
 To whom already Heav'n does Love allow.

28.
Though, since I gave the Hunns their last defeat,
 I have the Lombards Ensigns outward led,
Ambition kindled not this Victors heat,
 But 'tis a warmth my Fathers prudence bred.

29.
Who cast on more than Wolvish Man his Eye,
 Man's necessary hunger judg'd, and saw
That caus'd not his devouring Maladie;
 But like a wanton whelp he loves to gnaw.

30.
Man still is sick for pow'r, yet that disease
 Nature (whose Law is Temp'rance) ne'r inspires;
But 'tis a humour, does his Manship please,
 A luxury, fruition onely tires.

31.
And as in persons, so in publick States,
 The lust of Pow'r provokes to cruel war;
For wisest Senates it intoxicates,
 And makes them vain, as single persons are.

32.
Men into Nations it did first divide;
 Whilst place, scarce distant, gives them diff'rent stiles;
Rivers, whose breadth Inhabitants may stride,
 Parts them as much as Continents, and Isles.

33.
On equal, smooth, and undistinguish'd Ground,
 The lust of pow'r does liberty impair,
And limits by a border and a bound,
 What was before as passable as Air.

Whilst