There on the walls, by Polygnotus' hand, The conquer'd Medians in trunk-breeches ftand.

Where the fhorn youth to midnight lectures

rife,

105

Rous'd from their flumbers to be early wife : Where the coarfe cake, and homely husks of beans,

From pampering riot the young ftomach weans: And where the Samian Y directs thy fteps to

run

To Virtue's narrow fteep, and broad-way Vice

Thy chaps are fallen, and thy frame disjoin'd; Thy body as diffolv'd as is thy mind.

Ver. 103.

Polygnotus] A famous painter, who drew the pictures of the Medes and Perfians, conquered by Miltiades, Themiftocles, and other Athenian captains, on the walls of the portico, in their natural habits.

Ver. 109. And where the Samian Y &c.] Pythagoras of Samos, made the allufion of the Y, or Greek Upfilon, to vice and virtue. One fide of the letter being broad, characters vice, to which the afcent is wide and easy. The other fide reprefents virtue; to which the paffage is ftrait and difficult; and perhaps our Saviour might alfo allude to this, in thofe noted words of the evangelift, The way to heaven, &c.

Haft thou not, yet, propos'd fome certain end,

115

To which thy life, thy every act may tend?
Haft thou no mark, at which to bend thy bow?
Or like a boy purfueft the carrion crow
With pellets, and with stones, from tree to tree:
A fruitlefs toil, and liveft extempore?

120

Watch the disease in time: for, when within The dropfy rages and extends the skin, In vain for Hellebore the patient cries, And fees the doctor; but too late is wife: 124 Too late for cure, he proffers half his wealth; Conqueft and Guibbons cannot give him health. Learn, wretches, learn the motions of the. mind,

Why you were made, for what you were defign'd;

130

And the great moral end of human kind.
Study thyfelf, what rank or what degree
The wife Creator has ordain'd for thee:
And all the offices of that estate
Perform; and with thy prudence guide thy fate.
Pray justly, to be heard: nor more desire
Than what the decencies of life require.
Learn what thou oweft thy country, and thy
friend;

135

What's requifite to fpare, and what to spend :
Learn this; and after, envy not the store
Of the greaz'd advocate, that grinds the poor:

Fat fees from the defended Umbrian draws;
And only gains the wealthy client's caufe. 141
To whom the Marfians more provifion fend,
Than he and all his family can spend.
Gammons, that give a relish t the taste,
And potted fowl, and fish come in so fast, 145
That, ere the firft is out, the second stinks:
And mouldy mother gathers on the brinks.

But, here, fome captain of the land or fleet, Stout of his hands, but of a foldier's wit; Cries, I have fenfe to ferve my turn, in ftore; And he's a rafcal who pretends to more. Dammee, whate'er thofe book-learn'd blockheads fay,

151

155

Solon's the verieft fool in all the play. Top-heavy drones, and always looking down (As over-ballafted within the crown!) Muttering betwixt their lips fome mystic thing, Which, well examin'd, is flat conjuring, Meer madmen's dreams: for what the schoolshave taught,

Is only this, that nothing can be brought From nothing; and, what is, can ne'er be turn'd to nought,

160.

Ver. 140. Fat fees &c.] Cafaubon here notes, that among all the Romans who were brought up to learning, few befides the orators, or lawyers, grew rich.

Ver. 142. The Marfians and Umbrians were the most plentiful of all the provinces in Italy.

Is it for this they study? to grow pale,
And mifs the pleasures of a glorious meal?
For this, in rags accouter'd, are they seen,
And made the may-game of the public fpleen?
Proceed, my friend, and rail; but hear me

tell

A ftory, which is just thy parallel.

165

170

A fpark, like thee, of the man-killing trade,
Fell fick, and thus to his physician faid:
Methinks I am not right in every part;
I feel a kind of trembling at my heart:
My pulfe unequal, and my breath is ftrong:
Befides a filthy furr upon my tongue.
The doctor heard him, exercis'd his skill:
And, after, bid him for four days be still.
Three days he took good counsel, and began
To mend, and look like a recovering man: 176
The fourth, he could not hold from drink; but
fends

His boy to one of his old trusty friends:
Adjuring him, by all the Powers Divine,
To pity his diftrefs, who could not dine 180
Without a flaggon of his healing wine.
He drinks a fwilling draught; and, lin'd
within,

Will fupple in the bath his outward skin :
Whom thould he find but his physician there,
Who, wifely, bade him once again beware. 185

Sir, you look wan, you hardly draw your breath;

Drinking is dangerous, and the bath is death. 'Tis nothing, fays the fool: But, fays the friend,

190

This nothing, fir, will bring you to your end.
Do I not fee your dropfy-belly fwell?
Your yellow fkin?-No more of that; I'm
well.

I have already buried two or three
That ftood betwixt a fair eftate and me,
And, doctor, I may live to bury thee.

Thou tell'ft me, I look ill, and thou lookest

worse.

195

I've done, fays the physician; take your course. The laughing fot, like all unthinking men, Bathes and gets drunk ; then bathes and drinks again:

His throat half throttled with corrupted phlegm,

And breathing through his jaws a belching

200

fteam: Amidft his cups with fainting fhivering feiz'd, His limbs disjointed, and all o'er difeas'd, His hand refuses to fuftain the bowl: And his teeth chatter, and his eye-balls roll: Till, with his meat, he vomits out his foul: Then trumpets, torches, and a tedious crew 206 Of hireling mourners, for his funeral due.