170 REDEMPTION.
Though high, and oft thy belly pinch'd for food.
To hearts, it may be, more thy thoughts incline,
Who rather would rule peoples, than possess
Their treasured hoards ; though I the latter show,
As that, which most the people sway, since who
Earth's garner' d wealth secure, find easy hold
On all the rest, and purchase what they will;
As witness Sylla, Crassus, Lepidus,
Who by their gold, and largess well dispensed,
Drew all the Roman world beneath their sway j
And thou wilt need, believe me, no small sum,
Ere thou attain thy father David's throne.
Or, if 't be true, as said, thou aim'st to rule
The world, a world of wealth would scarce suffice
To buy such power, which none but I can give.
But thou, so be, prefer to win, not buy,
To sway by bonds of love, and wisdom's lore,
(So seems the tenor of thy life begun,
Who wisdom vaunted from thy earliest years,)
Rather than bind thy subjects e'en with chains
Of gold, or glaze their vassalage with gems,
Luxurious feasts, and wealth's seductive goods.
What thou dost wish, is here preferr'd to hand,
A world of peoples, all earth's tribes and tongues,
My willing slaves, whom I acquit, ready
To be transferr'd to thee, willing to serve,
Thine every wish obey, if thou but grant
The sole condition, soon to be made known.
Let us expatiate whence last we view'd
Wealthy Europa's coasts ; from Rome's high tow'rs
Look down on all that worthy is the name
Of grand ; thence easy glean the subject world,
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