62
SATYR.
Take pains (in Justice) to invent,
And study their own Punishment;
That, as their Crimes should greater grow,
So might their own Inflictions too.
105 Hence bloody Wars at first began,
The artificial Plague of Man,
That from his own Invention rise,
To scourge his own Iniquities;
That if the Heav'ns should chance to spare
110 Supplies of constant poison'd Air,
They might not, with unfit Delay,
For lingering Destruction stay;
Nor seek Recruits of Death so far,
But plague themselves with Blood and War.
115 And if these fail, there is no good,
Kind Nature ere on Man bestow'd,
But he can easily divert
To his own Misery and Hurt;
And study their own Punishment;
That, as their Crimes should greater grow,
So might their own Inflictions too.
105 Hence bloody Wars at first began,
The artificial Plague of Man,
That from his own Invention rise,
To scourge his own Iniquities;
That if the Heav'ns should chance to spare
110 Supplies of constant poison'd Air,
They might not, with unfit Delay,
For lingering Destruction stay;
Nor seek Recruits of Death so far,
But plague themselves with Blood and War.
115 And if these fail, there is no good,
Kind Nature ere on Man bestow'd,
But he can easily divert
To his own Misery and Hurt;
131. Enrich Bawds, Whores, &c.] The Reign of Charles the Second, which is the Scene of this Satyr, does but too much justify this severe Censure.
132, 133, 134.silenc't Ministers—That get Estates by being undone—For tender Conscience, and have none.] A Passage in his Hudibras, will best explain the Poet's Meaning here.
Be sure to keep up Congregations,
In spight of Laws and Proclamations:
For Chiarlatans can do no good,
Until they're mounted in a Crowd;
And when they're punished, all the Hurt
Is but to fare the better for't;
In spight of Laws and Proclamations:
For Chiarlatans can do no good,
Until they're mounted in a Crowd;
And when they're punished, all the Hurt
Is but to fare the better for't;
As
