64
Epistles.
Yet banish'd from the realms by right her own,
Passion, a blind usurper, mounts the throne;
Or, to known good preferring specious ill,
Reason becomes a cully to the will. 235
Thus man, perversely fond to roam astray,
Hoodwinks the guide assign'd to shew the way,
And in life's voyage like the pilot fares
Who breaks the compass, and contemns the stars,
To steer by meteors, which at random fly, 240
Preluding to a tempest in the sky.
Vain of his skill, and led by various views,
Each to his end a diff'rent path pursues;
And seldom is one wretch so humble known
To think his friend's a better than his own: 245
The boldest they who least partake the light,
As game-cocks in the dark are train'd to fight.
Nor shame nor ruin can our pride abate,
But what became our choice we call our fate.
"Villain," said Zeno to his pilf'ring slave, 250
"What frugal Nature needs I freely gave;
"With thee my treasure I depos'd in trust,
"What could provoke thee now to prove unjust?"
"Sir, blame the stars," felonious culprit cry'd:
"We 'll by the statute of the stars be try'd. 255
"If their strong influence all our actions urge,
"Some are foredoom'd to steal—and some to scourge:
"The beadle must obey the Fates' decree,
"As pow'rful Destiny prevail'd with thee."
Passion, a blind usurper, mounts the throne;
Or, to known good preferring specious ill,
Reason becomes a cully to the will. 235
Thus man, perversely fond to roam astray,
Hoodwinks the guide assign'd to shew the way,
And in life's voyage like the pilot fares
Who breaks the compass, and contemns the stars,
To steer by meteors, which at random fly, 240
Preluding to a tempest in the sky.
Vain of his skill, and led by various views,
Each to his end a diff'rent path pursues;
And seldom is one wretch so humble known
To think his friend's a better than his own: 245
The boldest they who least partake the light,
As game-cocks in the dark are train'd to fight.
Nor shame nor ruin can our pride abate,
But what became our choice we call our fate.
"Villain," said Zeno to his pilf'ring slave, 250
"What frugal Nature needs I freely gave;
"With thee my treasure I depos'd in trust,
"What could provoke thee now to prove unjust?"
"Sir, blame the stars," felonious culprit cry'd:
"We 'll by the statute of the stars be try'd. 255
"If their strong influence all our actions urge,
"Some are foredoom'd to steal—and some to scourge:
"The beadle must obey the Fates' decree,
"As pow'rful Destiny prevail'd with thee."
