Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/374

 288 Ajine Bradjl reefs Works.

Learning and learned men he much regarded,

And curious Artift " evermore rewarded:

The IlHads of Homer he fhill kept.

And under's pillow laid them when he flept.

Achilles happinefs he did envy,

'Caufe Homer kept his a6ls to memory.

Profufely bountifull without defert.

For fuch as " pleas'd him had both wealth and heart

Cruel by nature and by cuftome too.

As oft his a6ls throughout his reign doth fhew;

Ambitious lb, that nought could fatiffie,™

Vain, thirfting after immortality.

Still fearing that his name might hap to dye,

And fame not laft unto eternity.

This Conqueror did oft lament (tis faid)

There were no more worlds to be conquered.

This folly great Augujius did deride.

For had he had but wifdome to his pride,

He would had found enough there to be done,

To govern that he had already won.

His thoughts are periftit, he afpires no more,

Nor can he kill or fave as heretofore.

A God alive, him all muft Idolize,

Now like a mortal helplefs man he lyes.

Of all thofe Kingdomes large which he had got,

To his Pofterity remain'd no jot;

For by that hand which ftill revengeth bloud.

None of his kindred, nor his race long ftood.'

« Artifts. '" thole that. '^ More boundles in ambition then the fkie,

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