Page:An Essay on Man - Pope (1751).pdf/46

 And right, too rigid, harden into wrong; Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong. Yet, go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, Thus let the wiser make the rest obey, And, for those arts mere instinct could afford, Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods ador'd.' Nature spoke; observant men obey'd; Cities were built, societies were made: Here rose one little state; another near Grew by like means, and join'd thro' love or fear. Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend, And there the streams in purer rills descend? What war could ravish, commerce could bestow, And he return'd a friend, who came a foe. Converse and love mankind might strongly draw, When love was liberty, and nature law. Thus states were form'd; the name of king unknown, 'Till common int'rest plac'd the sway in one. 'Twas virtue only (or in arts or arms, Diffusing blessings, or averting harms) The same which in a sire the sons obey'd, A prince the father of a people made. ' then, by nature crown'd, each patriarch sat, King, priest, and parent of his growing state; On him, their second providence, they hung, Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue. He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food, Taught to command the fire, control the flood,