Hard is his Heart whom no Defert can move

A Mistress, or a Friend to love,

Above whate'er he does befides enjoy ;

But may he for their fakes, his Sire, or Sons deftroy? For facred Justice, or for publick Good,

Scorn'd be our Wealth, our Honour, and our Blood: In fuch a Caufe, Want is a happy State;

;

Ev'n low Disgrace would be a glorious Fate
And Death itself, when noble Fame furvives,
More to be valu'd than a thousand Lives.

But 'tis not, furely, of so fair Renown,
To fpill another's Blood, as to expose our own;
Of all that's ours we cannot give too much;

But what belongs to Friendship, oh, 'tis Sacrilege to

touch.

V.

1Can we stand by unmov'd, and fee

Our Mother robb'd and ravish'd? Can we be

Excus'd,

Excus'd, if in her Caufe we never ftir,

Pleas'd with the Strength and Beauty of the Ravisher; Thus fings our Bard with almost Heat divine;

m

Tis pity that his Thought was not " as strong as fine. Would it more juftly did the Cafe express,

Or that its Beauty and its Grace were less. (Thus a Nymph sometimes we see, Who fo charming seems to be,

That, jealous of a foft Surprize,

We scarce durft truft our eager Eyes) Such a fallacious Ambush to escape,

It were but vain to plead a willing Rape;

A valiant Son would be provok'd the more;

A " Force we therefore must confefs, but acted long

before;

'A Marriage fince did intervene,

With all the folemn and the facred Scene;

Loud was the Hymenean Songs

The violated✶ Dame walk'd fmilingly along,

Rome.

L 4

And

And in the midst of the moft facred Dance,

As if enamour'd of his Sight,

Often she cast a kind admiring glance

On the bold Strugler for delight;

Who afterwards appear'd fo moderate, and cool,
As if for publick Good alone he fo defir'd to rule.

VI.

But oh, that this were all which we can urge
Against a Roman of fo great a Soul !

And that fair Truth permitted us to purge
His Fact, of what appears fo foul!

Friendship, that facred, and fublimest thing!

The nobleft Quality, and chiefest Good,

(In this dull Age fcarce understood)

Infpires us with unufual Warmth, her injur❜d Rites to fing.

*Affift, ye Angels, whofe immortal Bliss,

Tho' more refin'd, chiefly confifts in this!

How

How plainly your bright Thoughts to one another

fhine!

Oh, how ye all agree in Harmony divine!

The Race of mutual Love with equal Zeal ye run; A Course, as far from any end, as when at firft begun. "Ye faw, and smil'd upon this matchless Pair,

Who ftill betwixt them did so many Virtues share, Some which belong to Peace, and some to Strife, Those of a calm, and of an active Life,

That all the Excellence of Humane Kind Concurr❜d to make of both but one united Mind; Which Friendship did fo faft and closely bind, Not the leaft Cement could appear, by which their Souls were join'd.

That Tye which holds our mortal Frame,

Which poor unknowing we a Soul and Body name,

Seems not a Compofition more divine,

Or more abftruse, than all that does in Friendship

fhine.

VII.

From mighty CESAR, and his boundless Grace,

Tho' BRUTUS" once at least, his Life receiv'd;

Such Obligations, tho' fo high believ❜d,

Are yet but flight in such a cafe,

Where Friendfhip fo poffeffes all the Place,

There is no room for Gratitude; fince he,

Who fo obliges, is more pleas'd than his fav'd Friend can be.

Juft in the midst of all this noble Heat,

While their great Hearts did both so kindly beat,

That it amaz'd the Lookers on,

'And forc'd them to suspect a * Father and a Son;

(Tho' here ev'n Nature's felf ftill feem'd to be out

done)

From fuch a Friendship unprovok'd to fall,

y

Is horrid, yet I wish that Fact were all,

Which does with too much caufe ungrateful BRUTUS

call.

*Cafar was fufpected to have begotten Brutus.