To the King of Prussia on His Accession to the Throne.
At length arrives the blest auspicious day,
Which sheds its kindest influence on thee;
A day which fills thee only with dismay,
Whilst others wish thy exalted state to see.
Fly hence you fanatic, ye fraudful bands,
Ye persecutors, who enslave the mind;
Whose souls implacable and frantic hands,
Delight in carnage, and destruction find.
Shall odious calumny still lift her head?
Monster thou didst, with cursed rage inspired,
On famed Descartes and Bayle thy venom shed,
On Wolfe who Leibnitz to approach aspired.
You from the sacred altar took a sword,
Whose point you turned against each far-famed sage;
By the same weapon shall your breast be gored,
Your blood shall expiate your frantic rage.
He strikes, you die, his arm asserts truth's cause;
Truth is restored, and error disappears;
Philosophy is freed from tyrant laws,
The face of nature glorious freedom cheers.
79
