Page:Poetical Works of the Right Hon. Geo. Granville.djvu/123

Reclaim’d betimes I from the liſts retire,
And thank the gods who my retreat inſpire.10
In happier times our anceſtors were bred,
When virtue was the only path to tread.
Give me, ye Gods! but the ſame road to fame;
Whate’er my fathers dar’d I dare the ſame.
Chang’d is the ſcene; ſome baneful planet rules15
An impious world, contriv’d for knaves and fools.
Look now around, and with impartial eyes
Conſider and examine all who riſe;
Weigh well their actions and their treach’rous ends,
How greatneſs grows, and by what ſteps aſcends;20
What murders, treaſons, perjuries, deceit;
How many cruſh’d to make one monſter great!
Would you command, have Fortune in your pow’r?
Hug when you ſtab, and ſmile when you devour;
Be bloody, falſe, flatter, forſwear, and lie;25
Turn pander, pathic, paraſite, or ſpy;
Such thriving arts may your wiſh’d purpoſe bring,
A miniſter at leaſt, perhaps a king.
Fortune we moſt unjuſtly partial call,
A miſtreſs free, who bids alike to all;30
But on ſuch terms as only ſuit the baſe;
Honour denies, and ſhuns the ſoul embrace.
The honeſt man, who ſtarves and is undone,
Not Fortune, but his virtue, keeps him down.
Had Cato bent beneath the conqu’ring cauſe,35
He might have liv’d to give new Senates laws;