But when to fin our bias'd nature leans,
The careful devil is still at hand with means;
And providently pimps for ill defires :
The good old cause reviv'd a plot requires.
Plots true or false are neceffary things,
To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
Th' inhabitants of old Jerufalem
Were Jebusites; the town fo call'd for them;
And theirs the native right-

But when the chofen people grew more strong,
The rightful caufe at length became the wrong;
And every lofs the men of Jebus bore,
They ftill were thought God's enemies the more.
Thus worn or weaken'd, well or ill content,
Submit they must to David's government:
Imp. verifh'd and depriv'd of all command,
Their taxes doubled as they loft their land;
And what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
Their gods difgrac'd, and burnt like common
wood.

This fet the heathen priesthood in a flame;
For pricfts of all regions are the fame.
Of wharfoe'er defcent their godhead be,
Stock, ftone, or other homely pedigree,
In his defence his fervants are as bold,
As if he had been born of beaten gold.
The Jewish rabbins, though their enemies,
In this conclude them honeft men and wife:
For 'twas their duty, all the learned think,
T'efpoufe his caufe by whom they eat and drink.
From hence began that plot, the nation's curse,
Bad in itself, but reprefented worse;
Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decry'd;
With oaths affirm'd, with dying vows deny'd;
Not weigh'd nor winnow'd by the multitude;
But swallow'd in the mass, unchew'd and crude.
Some truth there was, but dafh'd and brew'd
with lies,

To pleafe the fools, and puzzle all the wife.
Succeeding times did equal folly call,
Believing nothing, or believing all
Th' Egyptian rites the Jebufites embrac'd;
Where gods are recommended by their taste.
Such favory deities must needs be good,
As lerv'd at once for worship and for food.
By torce they could not introduce these gods;
For ten to one in former days was odds.
So fraud was us'd, the facrificer's trade:
Fools are more hard to conquer than perfuade.
Their busy teachers mingled with the Jews,
And rak'd for converts ev'n the court and flews:
Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,
Because the fleece accompanies the flock.
Some thought they God's anointed meant to flay
By guns, invented fince full many a day:
Our author fwears it not; but who can know
How far the devil and Jebusites may go?
This plot, which fail'd for want of common fenfe,
Had yet a deep and dangerous confequence
For as, when raging fevers boil the blood,
The ftanding lake foon floats into a flood,
And every hoftile humour, which before
Slept quiet in its channels, bubbles o'er;
So feveral factions from this first fermeot,
Work up to foam and threat the government.

:

Like fiends were harden'd in impenitence,
Some, by their monarch's fatal mercy, grown
From pardon'd rebels kinfmen to the throne,
Were rais'd in power and public office high;
Strong bands, if bands ungrateful men could tie.
Of these the falfe Achitophel was first;
A name to all fucceeding ages curit;
For clofe defigns, and crooked couniels fit;
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit;
Reftlefs, unfix'd in principles and place;
In power unpleas'd, impatient of difgrace:
A fiery foul, which working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy-body to decay,
And o'er inform'd the tenement of clay.
A daring pilot in extremity;

}

[high,

Pleas'd with the danger when the waves went
He fought the ftorms; but, for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the fands to boat his wit.
Great wits are fire to madness near ally'd,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide;
Elfe why should he, with wealth and honour bleft
Refuse his age the needful hours of reft?
Purish a body which he could not please;
Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of eale?
And all to leave what with his toil he won,
To that unfeather'd two-legg'd thing, a fon;
Got while his foul did huddled notions try;
And born a fhapelefs lump, like anarchy.
In friendship falfe. implacable in hate;
Refolv'd to ruin, or to rule the state.
To compafs this the triple bond he broke;
The pillars of the public fafety shook;
And fitted Ifrael, for a foreign yake;
Then feiz'd with fear, yet ftill affecting fame,
Ufurp'd a patriot's all-atoning name.
So eafy ftill it proves in factious times,
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
How fafe is treafon, and how facred ill,
Where none can fin against the people's will!
Where crowds can wink, and no offence be
known,

Since in anoner's guilt they find their own?
Yet fame deferv'd no enemy can grudge;
The ftatefman we abhor, but praise the judge.
In Ifrael's courts ne'er fat an Abethdin
With more difcerning eyes, or hands more clean
Unbrib'd, unfought, the wretched to redress;
Swift of dispatch, and eafy of access.
Oh! had he been content to ferve the crown,
With virus only proper to the gown;
Or had the ranknefs of the foil been freed
From cockle, that opprefs' the noble feed;
David for him his tuneful harp had ftrung,
And heaven had wanted one immort! fong,
But wild ambition loves to flide, not ftand,
And fortune's ice preters to virtue's land.
Achitophel, grown weary to poffefs
A lawful fame, and lazy happiness,
Difdain'd the golden fruit to gather free,
And lent the crowd his arm to fhake the tree.

Now, manifeft of crimes contriv'd long fince,
He food at bold defiance with his prince;
Held up the buckler of the people's caufe
Against the crown, and fculk'd behind the laws.
The with'd occafion of the plot he takes;
Some circumstances finds, but more he makes.
By buzzing emiflarics fill the ears

Of liitening crowds with jealoufics and fears
Of arbitrary counfels brought to light,
And proves the king himself a Jehusite.
Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well,
Were strong with people easy to rebel.

For, govern'd by the moon, the giddy Jews
Tread the fame track when the the prime renews;
And once in twenty years their fcribes record,
By natural instinct they change their lord.
Achitophel ftil wants a chief, and none
Was found fo fit as warlike Abfalom.
Not that he wifh'd his greatnefs to create,
For politicians neither love nor hate
But, for he knew his title not allow'd,
Would keep him ftill depending on the crowd:
That kingly power, thus ebbing out, might be
Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.
Him he attempts with ftudied arts to please,
And theds his venom in fuch words as these.

Aufpicious prince, at whofe nativity
Some royal planet rul'd the fouthern sky;
Thy longing country's darling and defire;
Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire:
'Their fecond Mofes, whofe extended wand
Divides the feas, and fhews the promis'd land:
Whofe dawning day, in every diftant age,
Has exercis'd the facred prophet's rage:
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme,
The young men's vifion, and the old men's drcam!
Thee, Saviour, thee the nation' vows confefs,
And, never fatisfy'd with feeing, biefs:
Swift unbefpoken pomps thy fteps proclaim,
And ftammering babes are taught to lifp thy name.
How long wilt thou the general joy detain,
Starve and defraud the people of thy reign;
Content ingloriously to pass thy days,
Like one of virtue's fools that feed on praise;
Till thy fresh glories, which now thine fo bright,
Grow ftale, and tarnish with our daily fight?
Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be
Or gather'd ripe, or rot upon the tree.
Heaven has to all allotted, foon or late,

Some lucky revolution of their fate :

Behold him fetting in his western skles,
The fhadows lengthening as the vapours rife.
He is not now, as when on Jordan's fand
The joyful people throng'd to fee him land,
Covering the beach, and blackening all the ftrand;
But like the prince of angels, from his height
Comes tumbling downward with diminish'd light :
Betray'd by one poor plot to public fcorn:
Our only blefling fince his curft return :
Thofe heaps of people which one sheaf did bind,
Blown off and scatter'd by a puff of wind.
What ftrength can he to your designs oppofe,
Naked of friends, and round befet with foes?
If Pharaoh's doubtful fuccour he should use,
A foreign aid would more incenfe the Jews:
Proud Egypt would diffembled friendship bring;
Foment the war, but no Cpport the king:
Nor would the royal party e'er unite

With Pharaoh's arms t' aflift the Jebusite;
Or if they should, their interest foon would break,
And with fuch odious aid make David weak.
All forts of men by my fuccefsful arts,
Abhorring kings, eftrange their alter'd hearts
From David's rule; and 'tis their general cry,
Religion, commonwealth, and liberty.
If you, as champion of the public good,
Add to their arms a chief of royal blood,
What may not Ifrael hope, and what applaufe
Might fuch a general gain by fuch a caufe?
Not barren praife alone, that gaudy flower
Fair only to the fight, but folid power:
And nobler is a limited comniand,
Given by the love of all your native land,
Than a fucceffive title, long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.

What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,
When flattery fooths, and when ambition blinds?
Defire of power on earth a vicious weed,
Yet fprung from high is of celestial seed :
In God 'tis glory; and when men aspire,
"Tis but a fpark too much of heavenly fire.
Th' ambitious you h, too covetous of fame,
Too full of angel's metal in his frame,
Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,
Made drunk with honour, and debauch'd with
praife.

Ha'f loath, and half consenting to the ill,
For royal blood within him struggled still,
He thus reply'd.-And what pretence have I
To take up arms for public liberty?

The faith's defender, and mankind's delight;
Good, gracious, just, obfervant of the laws;
And heaven by wonders has efpous'd his caufe.
Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful reign ?
Who fues for juftice to his throne in vain ?
What millions has he pardon'd of his foes,
Whom juft revenge did to his wrath expofe!
Mild, easy, humble, studious of our good;
Inclin'd to mercy, and averfe from blood.
If mildness ill with flubborn Ifrael fuit,
His crime is God's beloved attribute.
What could he gain his people to betray,
Or change his right for arbitrary (way ?

Let haughty Pharaoh curfe with fuch a reign
His fruitful Nile, and yoke a fervile train.
If David's rule Jerufalem difplease,
The dog-ftar heats their brains to this difeafe.
Why then thould I, encouraging the bad,
Turn rebel, and run popularly mad?
Were he a tyrant, who by lawless might
Opprefs'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebufite,
Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands
Would curb my spirits and restrain my hands:
The people might affert their liberty;
But what was right in them were crime in me.
His favour leaves me nothing to require,
Prevents my wishes, and out-runs defire;
What more can I expect while David lives?
All but his kingly diadem he gives :
And that-But here Le paus'd; then, fighing,
Is justly deftin'd for a worthier head.

faid

For when my father from his toils fhall rest,
And late augment the number of the bleft,
His lawful iffue fhall the throne afcend,
Or the collateral line, where that shall end.
His brother, though opprefs'd with vulgar spite,
Yet dauntless, and fecure of native right,
Of every royal virtue ftands poffeft;
Still dear to all the braveft and the best.
His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim;
His loyalty the king, the world his fame.
His mercy ev'n th' offending crowd will find;
For fure he comes of a forgiving kind.
Why fhould I then repine at heaven's decree,
Which gives me no pretence to royalty?
Yet oh that fate, propitioufly inclin'd,

- Had rais'd my birth, or had debas'd my mind;
To my large foul not all her treasure lent,
And then betray'd it to a mean defcent!
I find, I find my mounting fpirits bold,
And David's part difdains my mother's mould.
Why am I feanted by a niggard birth?
My foul difclaims the kindred of her earth;
And made for empire whispers me within,
Defire of greatnefs is a god-like fin.

Him ftaggering fo, when hell's dire agent found,
While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her ground,
He pours freth forces in, and thus replies:
Th' eternal God, fupremely good and wife,
Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain :
What wonders are referv'd to blefs your reign!
Against your will your arguments have shown,
Such virtue's only given to guide a throne.
Not that your father's mildnefs 1 contemn;
But manly force becomes the diadem.
'Tis true he grants the people all they crave;
And more perhaps than subjects ought to have:
For lavish grants fuppofe a monarch tame,
And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.
But when should people ftrive their bonds to break,
If not when kings are negligent or weak?
Let him give on till he can give no more,
The thrifty Sanhedrim fhall keep him poor;
And every fhekel, which he can receive,
Shall coft a limb of his prerogative..
To ply him with new plots fhall be my care;
Or plunge him deep in fome expensive war ;

Which when his treasure can no more supply,
He muft, with the remains of kingship, buy
His faithful friends, our jealoufies and fears
Call Jebufites, and Pharaoh's penfioners;
Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
He fhall be naked left to public fcorn.
The next fucceffor, whom I fear and hate,
My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
Turn'd all his virtues to his overthrow,
And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.
His right, for fums of neceffary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be fold;
Till time fhall ever-wanting David draw,
To pafs your doubtful title into law;

[chofe,

If not, the people have a right supreme
To make their kings; for kings are made for them.
All empire is no more than power in trust,
Which, when refum'd, can be no longer just.
Succeffion, for the general good defign'd,
In its own wrong a nation cannot bind:
If altering that the people can relieve,
Better one fuffer than a nation grieve.
The Jews well know their power: ere Saul bey
God was their king, and God they durft depose.
Urge now your piety, your filial name,
A father's right, and fear of future fame;
The public good, that univerfal call,
To which ev'n heaven fubmitted, answers all.
Nor let his love enchant your generous mind;
'Tis nature's trick to propagate her kind.
Our fond begetters, who would never die,
Love but themfelves in their posterity.
Or let his kindness by th' effects be try'd,
Or let him lay his vain pretence aside.
God faid, he lov'd your father; could he bring
A better proof, than to anoint him king?
It furely fhew'd he lov'd the fhepherd well,
Who gave fo fair a flock as Ifrael.
Would David have you thought his darling fon,
What means he then to allienate the crown?
The name of godly he may blush to bear:
Is't after God's own heart to cheat his heir?
He to his brother gives fupreme command,
To you a legacy of barren land;
Perhaps th' old harp, on which he thrums his lays,
Or fome duil Hebrew ballad in your praife.
Then the next heir, a prince fevere and wife,
Already looks on you with jealous eyes;
Sees through the thin difguifes of your arts,
And marks your progrefs in the people's hearts;
Though now his mighty foul its grief contains ;
He meditates revenge who leaft complains:
And like a lion, flumbering in the way,
Or fleep diffembling, while he waits his prey,
His fearless foes within his distance draws,
Contrains his roaring, and contracts his paws;
Till at the laft, his time for fury found,
He fhoots with fudden vengeance from the ground;
The proftrate vulgar paffes o'er and spares,
But with a lordly rage his hunters tears.
Your cafe no tame expedients will afford :
Refolve on death, or conqueft by the fword,
Which for no lefs a ftake than life you draw;
And felf-defence is nature's eldest law.

Leave the warm people no confidering time:
For then rebellion may be thought a crime.
Avail yourself of what occafion gives,
But try your title while your father lives:
And that your arms may have a fair pretence,
Proclaim you take them in the king's defence;
Whofe facred life cach minute would expofe
To plots, from seeming friends, and fecret foes.
And who can found the depth of David's foul?
Perhaps his fear his kindness may controul.
He fears his brother, though he loves his fon,
For plighted vows too late to be undone.
If fe, by force he wishes to be gain'd:
Like women's lechery, to seem constrain'd.
Doubt not but, when he most affects the frown,
Commit a pleafing rape upon the crown.
Secure his perfon to fecure your cause :
They who poffefs the prince poffefs the laws.
He faid; and this advice above the reft,
With Abfalom's mild nature fuited best;
Unblam'd of life, ambition set aside,

Not ftain'd with cruelty, nor puft with pride.
How happy had he been, if destiny
Had higher plac'd his birth, or not so high!
His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne,
And bleft all other countries but his own.
But charming greatness since so few refuse,
'Tis jufter to lament him than accufe.
Strong were his hopes a rival to remove,
With blandifhments to gain the public love:
To head the faction while their zeal was hot,
And popularly profecute the plot.
To further this, Achitophel unites
The malcontents of all the Ifraelites :
Whofe differing parties he could wifely join,
For feveral ends, to ferve the fame defign.
The beft, and of the princes fome were fuch,
Who thought the power of monarchy too much;
Miftaken men, and patriots in their hearts;
Not wicked, but feduc'd by impious arts
By these the fprings of property were bent,
And wound fo high, they crack'd the government.
The next for intereft fought to embroil the state,
To fell their duty at a dearer rate;
And make their Jewish markets of the throne;
Pretending public good to serve their own.
Others thought kings an ufelefs heavy load,
Who coft too much, and did too little good.
Thefe were for laying honest David by,
On principles of pure good husbandry.
With them join'd all th' haranguers of the throng,
That thought to get preferment by the tongue.
Who follow next a double danger bring,
Not only hating David, but the king;
The Solymaan rout; weil vers'd of old,
In goodly faction, and in treafon bold;
Cowring and quaking at a conqueror's fword,
But le fry to a lawful prince reftor'd;
Saw with dildain an Ethnic plot begun,
Ard fcrn'd by Jebusites to be outdone.
Hot Levites headed theie; who puil'd before
From bark, hich in the judges days they bore,
Refum'd their cant, and with a zealous cry,
Purfued their old belov'd theocracy:

Where fanhedrim and prieft enflav'd the nation,
And justify'd their spoils by inspiration :
For who fo fit to reign as Aaron's race,
If once dominion they could found in grace?
These led the pack; though not of fureft fcent,
Yet deepeft-mouth'd against the government.
A numerous hoft of dreaming faints fucceed,
Of the true old enthufiaftic breed:

+

'Gainit form and order they their power employ,
Nothing to build, and all things to destroy.
But far more numerous was the herd of fuch,
Who think too little, and who talk too much,
These out of mere inftinct, they knew not why,
Ador'd their fathers God and property;
And by the fame blind benefit of fate,
The devil and the Jebufite did hate:
Born to be fav'd ev'n in their own despite,
Because they could not help believing right.
Such were the tools: but a whole Hydra more
Remains of fprouting heads too long to score.
Some of their chiefs were princes of the land;
In the first rank of thefe did Zimri ftand:
A man fo various, that he feem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was every thing by starts, and nothing long;
But, in the courfe of one revolving moon,
Was chemift, fidler, statesman, and buffoon:
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Befides ten thousand freaks that dy'd in thinking.
Bleft madman, who could every hour employ,
With fomething new to wifh, or to enjoy!
Railing and praifing were his ufual themes;
And both, to fhew his judgment, in extremes:
So over violent, or over civil,

That every man with him was God or Devil,
In fquandering wealth was his peculiar art:
Nothing went unrewarded but defert.
Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late;
He had his jeft, and they had his eftate.
He laugh'd himself from court; then fought relief
By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief:
For fpite of him the weight of business fell
On Abfalom, and wife Achitophel :
Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,
He left not faction, but of that was left.

Titles and names 'twere tedious to rehearse
Of lords, below the dignity of verse.

[best:

Wits, warriors, commonwealths-men, were the
Kind husbands, and mere nobles, all the reft.
And therefore, in the name of dulnefs, be

The well-hung Balaam, and cold Caleb, free:
And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,
Who made new porridge for the pafchal lamb.
Let friendship's holy band fome names affure;
Some their own worth, and fome let fcorn fecure.
Nor fhall the rafcal rabble here have place,
Whom kings no title gave, and God no grace :
Not bull-fac'd Jonas, who could ftatutes draw
To mean rebellion, and make treafon law.
But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
The wretch who heaven's anointed dar'd to curse;
Shimei, whofe youth did early promife bring
Of zeal to God, and hatred to his king;

;

Did wifely from expensive sins refrain,
And never broke the fabbath but for gain :
Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,
Or curfe unless against the government.
Thus heaping wealth, by the most ready way
Among the Jews, which was to cheat and pray;
The city, to reward his pious hate
Against his mafter, chofe him magiftrate.
His hand a vafe of justice did uphold;
His neck was loaded with a chain of gold.
During his office treason was no crime
The fons of Belial had a glorious time :
For Shemei, though not prodigal of pelf,
Yet lov'd his wicked neighbour as himself.
When two or three were gather'd to declaim
Against the monarch of Jerufalem,
Shimei was always in the midst of them :
And if they curs'd the king when he was by,
Would rather curfe than break good company.
If any durft his factious friends accufe,
He pack'd a jury of diffenting Jews;
Whofe fellow-feeling in the godly caufe
Would free the fuffering faint from human laws.
For laws are only made to punish those
Who ferve the king, and to protect his foes.
If any leifure time he had from power,
Because 'tis fin to mifemploy an hour:
His bufinefs was, by writing to perfuade,
That kings were ufelefs and a clog to trade :
And that his noble ftyle he might refine,
No Rechabite more fhun'd the fumes of wine.
Chafte were his cellars and his fhrieval board
The groffnefs of a city feaft abhorr'd:
His cooks with long difufe their trade forgot;
Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot.
Such frugal virtue malice may accule;
But fure 'twas neceffary to the Jews:
For towns, once burnt, fuch magiftrates require
As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.
With fpiritual food he fed his fervants well,
But free from flesh that made the Jews rebel:
And Mofes' laws he held in more account,
For forty days of fafting in the mount.
To fpeak the reft, who better are forgot,
Would tire a well-breath'd witness of the plot.
Yet, Corah, thou fhalt from oblivion pass;
Erect thyfelf, thou monumental brafs,
High as the ferpent of thy metal made,
While nations stand secure beneath thy shade.
What though his birth were base, yet comets rife
From earthly vapours ere they fhine in fkies.
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's iffue, as by prince's fon.
This arch-atteftor for the public good
By that one deed ennobles all his blood.
Who ever afk'd the witnefs's high race,
Whofe oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?
Ours was a Levite, and as times went then,
His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,
Sure figns he neither choleric was, nor proud:
His long chin prov'd his wit; his faint-like grace
A church vermilion, and a Mofes' face.
His memory, miraculously great,

Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat;

Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
For human wit could never fuch devite.
Some future truths are mingled in his book;
But where the witnefs fail'd the prophet fpoke :
Some things like vifionary flight appear;
The fpirit caught him up the Lord knows where;
And gave him his rabbinical degree,
Unknown to foreign university.

His judgment yet his memory did excel;
Which piec'd his wondrous evidence fo well,
And fuited to the temper of the times,
Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.
Let Ifrael's foes fufpect his heavenly call,
And rafhly judge his writ apocryphal;
Our laws for fuch affronts have forfeits made:
He takes his life, who takes away his trade.
Were I myself in witness Corah's place,
The wretch who did me fuch a dire difgrace,
Should whet my memory, though once forgot,
To make him an appendix of my plot.

His zeal to heaven made him his prince despise,
And load his person with indignities.
But zeal peculiar privilege affords,
Indulging latitude to deeds and words:
And Corah might for Agag's murder call,
In terms as courfe as Samuel us'd to Saul.
What others in his evidence did join,
The best that could be had for love or coin,
In Corah's own predicament will fall:
For Witness is a common name to all.

Surrounded thus with friends of every fort,
Deluded Abfalom fortakes the court:
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near poffeffion of a crown.
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with furprize,
And on his goodly perfon feed their eyes.
His joy conceal'd, he fets himself to show;
On each fide bowing popularly low :

His looks. his geftures, and his words he frames,
And with familiar eafe repeats their names.
Thus form'd by nature, furnish'd out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their fecret hearts.
Then with a kind compaffionating look,
And fighs, bespeaking pity ere he spoke,
Few words he faid; but eafy thofe and fit,
More flow than Hybla-drops, and far more fweet.
1 mourn, my countrymen, your lost eftate;
Though far unable to prevent your fate;
Behold a banih'd man for your dear caule
Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws!

Yet oh! that I alone could be undone,
Cut off from empire, and no more a fon!
Now all your liberties a spoil are made;
Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade,
And Jebufites your facred rites invade.
My father, whom with reverence yet I name,
Charm'd into eafe, is carelefs of his fame;
And, brib'd with petty fums of foreign gold,
Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old;
Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys;
And all his power against himself employs.
He gives, and let him give, my right away:
But why should he his own and yours betray?
He, only he, can make the nation bleed,
And he alone from my revenge is freed.