Absalom and Achitophel

Absalom and Achitophel is a celebrated satirical poem by John Dryden, written in heroic couplets and first published in 1681. The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681). The poem also references the Popish Plot (1678). Quotes Part I thumb|In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin. thumb|Whate’er he did was done with so much ease,In him alone 'twas natural to please. In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin. l. 1 Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command, Scattered his Maker's image through the land. l. 7 Of all the numerous progeny was none So beautiful, so brave, as Absalon; Whether inspired by by some diviner lust, His father got him with a greater gust; Or that his conscious destiny made way, By manly beauty, to imperial sway. l. 17 Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease, In him alone 'twas natural to please. l. 27 His motions all accompanied with grace, And paradise was opened in his face. l. 29 What faults he had,—for who from faults is free? His father could not, or he would not see. l. 35 The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race. l. 45 But when to sin our biassed nature leans, The careful devil is still at hand with means, And providently pimps for ill desires; The good old cause, revived, a plot requires. l. 79 Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings. l. 83 Some truth there was, but dashed and brewed with lies, To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise. l. 114 Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade. l. 125 Of these the false Achitophel was first; A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs, and crooked counsels fit; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; Restless, unfixed in principles and place; In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace. l. 150 A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy-body to decay, And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. l. 156 Thomas Fuller, Holy and Profane State (Life of Duke d'Alva): "He was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it." A daring pilot in extremity; Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit. l. 159 Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide; Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest, Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? l. 162 Aristotle, Problems, sect. 30: "No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness." Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, ch. 17: "Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiæ." ("There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.") Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I, l. 226: "What thin partitions sense from thought divide!" Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease. l. 168 And all to leave what with his toil he won, To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son. l. 169 In friendship false, implacable in hate; Resolved to ruin, or to rule the state. l. 173 So easy still it proves in factious times, With public zeal to cancel private crimes. l. 180 How safe is treason, and how sacred ill, Where none can sin against the people's will? Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known, Since in another's guilt they find their own? l. 182 And heaven had wanted one immortal song. But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land. l. 197 Knolles, History of the Turks (under a portrait of Mustapha I): "Greatnesse on goodnesse loves to slide, not stand, / And leaves, for Fortune's ice, Vertue's ferme land." He stood at bold defiance with his prince; Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws. l. 205 For politicians neither love nor hate. l. 223 Auspicious prince, at whose nativity Some royal planet ruled the southern sky; Thy longing country's darling and desire; Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire; Their second Moses, whose extended wand Divides the seas, and shews the promised land; Whose dawning day, in every distant age, Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage; The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! l. 238 Joel, ch. 2, v. 28: "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." Behold him setting in his western skies, The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise. l. 268 Young, Night Thoughts, v, l. 661: "Like our Shadows, / Our Wishes lengthen, as our Sun declines." And nobler is a limited command, Given by the love of all your native land, Than a successive title, long and dark, Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark. l. 299 What cannot praise effect in mighty minds, When flattery sooths, and when ambition blinds? l. 303 Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed, Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed; In God 'tis glory; and when men aspire, 'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire. l. 305 His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim. l. 357 thumb|All empire is no more than power in trust.        The people have a right supreme To make their kings; for kings are made for them. l. 409 All empire is no more than power in trust. l. 411 Better one suffer than a nation grieve. l. 416 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 themselves in their posterity. l. 423 Your case no tame expedients will afford; Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword, Which for no less a stake than life you draw; And self-defence is nature's eldest law. l. 455 Not only hating David, but the king. l. 512 But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much. l. 533 Prior, Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana: "They always talk who never think." A man so various, that he seemed 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 course of one revolving moon, Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon. l. 545 Juvenal, Satire iii, l. 76: Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes, / Augur, schœnobates, medicus, magus, omnia novit. ("Grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, gymnastic teacher, physician; fortune-teller, rope-dancer, conjurer,—he knew everything.") Railing and praising were his usual themes; And both, to shew his judgment, in extremes; So over violent, or over civil, That every man with him was God or devil. l. 555 In squandering wealth was his peculiar art; Nothing went unrewarded but desert. Beggared by fools, whom still he found too late; He had his jest, and they had his estate. l. 559 His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen. l. 645 Hare, Guesses at Truth: "A Christian is God Almighty’s gentleman." Young, Night Thoughts, iv, l. 788: "A Christian is the highest style of man." Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail; But common interest always will prevail; And pity never ceases to be shown To him who makes the people's wrongs his own. l. 723 Thus in a pageant-shew a plot is made; And peace itself is war in masquerade. l. 751 For who can be secure of private right, If sovereign sway may be dissolved by might? Nor is the people's judgment always true: The most may err as grossly as the few. l. 779 If they may give and take whene'er they please, Not kings alone, the Godhead's images, But government itself, at length must fall To nature's state, where all have right to all. l. 791 Yet, grant our lords, the people, kings can make, What prudent men a settled throne would shake? For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before, That change they covet makes them suffer more. All other errors but disturb a state; But innovation is the blow of fate. If ancient fabrics nod, and threat to fall, To patch their flaws, and buttress up the wall, Thus far 'tis duty: but here fix the mark; For all beyond it is to touch the ark. To change foundations, cast the frame anew, Is work for rebels, who base ends pursue; At once divine and human laws controul, And mend the parts by ruin of the whole. l. 795 For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before, That change they covet makes them suffer more. All other errors but disturb a state; But innovation is the blow of fate. l. 797 The court he practised, not the courtier's art: Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart. l. 825 Swift was the race, but short the time to run. l. 837 Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words, and heavenly eloquence. l. 868 Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet In his own worth. l. 900 Gulled with a patriot's name, whose modern sense Is one that would by law supplant his prince; The people's brave, the politician's tool; Never was patriot yet, but was a fool. l. 965 From plots and treasons heaven preserve my years, But save me most from my petitioners! Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave; God cannot grant so much as they can crave. l. 985 Oh, that my power to saving were confined! Why am I forced, like heaven, against my mind, To make examples of another kind? Must I at length the sword of justice draw? Oh curst effects of necessary law! How ill my fear they by my mercy scan! Beware the fury of a patient man. l. 999 Publius Syrus: Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia. ("An over-taxed patience gives way to fierce anger.") For lawful power is still superior found; When long driven back, at length it stands the ground. l. 1024 Part II In collaboration with Nahum Tate (1682) What politician yet e'er 'scaped his fate, Who saving his own neck not saved the state? l. 210 Doeg, though without knowing how or why, Made still a blundering kind of melody; Spurred boldly on, and dashed through thick and thin, Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in; Free from all meaning, whether good or bad, And, in one word, heroically mad. l. 412 Railing in other men may be a crime, But ought to pass for mere instinct in him; Instinct he follows and no farther knows, For to write verse with him is to transprose. l. 441 Settle gave his poem, in answer to Dryden, the title of Absalom Senior, or Absalom and Achitophel transprosed. And the first verse runs thus: "In gloomy times, when priestcraft bore the sway, / And made heaven's gate a lock to their own key." With all this bulk there's nothing lost in Og, For every inch, that is not fool, is rogue; A monstrous mass of foul corrupted matter, As all the devils had spewed to make the batter. When wine has given him courage to blaspheme, He curses God, but God before curst him; And if man could have reason, none has more, That made his paunch so rich, and him so poor. l. 462 Og and Doeg = Shadwell and Settle Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck. l. 486 External links Walter Scott (ed.) The Works of John Dryden (1808), vol. 9 Category:Works by John Dryden Category:Poetry