Page:The Bible of Nature, and Substance of Virtue.djvu/43

But then no armies fell at once, no plain
Grew red, no rivers swell'd with thousands slain;
None plough'd the floods, none ship wreck'd made their graves
In th' sea, none drank cold death among the waves.
Then want, now surfeits bring a hasty death,
Our bellies swell so much they stop our breath.
Then poisonous herbs, when plucked by chance, did kill,
Now pois'ning's grown an art, improved by skill.
Then neighbors, by degrees familiar grown,
Made leagues, and bonds, and each secur'd his own:
And then by signs, and broken words agreed,
That they would keep, preserve, defend, and feed
Defenceless infants, and the women too,
As natural pity prompted them to do.
Kind Nature power of framing sounds affords
To man, and then convenience taught us words.
As infants now, for want of words, devise
Expressive signs, they speak with hands and eyes;
Their speaking hand the want of words supplies.
And then since beasts, and birds, tho' dumb, commence
As various voices, as their various sense;
How easy was it then for men to frame,
And give each different thing a different name?
Now for the rise of fire: swift thunder thrown
From broken sulphurous clouds, first brought it down;
Or the sun first taught them to prepare their meat;
Because they had observ'd his quickning heat.
But when once gold was found, the powerful ore
Saw light, and man gap'd after glittering store;
Then wit and beauty were esteem'd no more:
But wealth enjoy'd their honor, seiz'd their place,
The wise and beauteous how to fortune's ass.
But if men would live up to reason's rules,
They would not scrape and cringe to wealthy fools:
For 'tis the greatest wealth to live content
With little, such the greatest joy present.
But wealth and power men often strive to gain,
As that could bring them ease, or make a chain
To fix unsteady fortune, all in vain.