N times when princes cancel'd nature's law,
And declarations which themselves did draw;
When children us'd their parents to dethrone,
And gnaw their way, like vipers, to the crown;
Tarquin, a favage, proud, ambitious prince,
Prompt to expel, yet thoughtless of defence,
The envied fcepter did from Tullius snatch,
The Roman king, and father by the match.
To form his party, hiftories report,
A fanctuary was open'd in his court,
Where glad offenders safely might resort.
Great was the crowd, and wondrous the fuccefs,
For those were fruitful times of wickedness;
And all, that liv'd obnoxious to the laws,
Flock'd to prince Tarquin, and embrac'd his cause.
'Mongst these a pagan priest for refuge fled;
A prophet deep in godly faction read;
A fycophant, that knew the modish way
To cant and plot, to flatter and betray,
To whine and fin, to fcribble and recant,
A fhameless author, and a luftful faint.
To ferve all times he could diftinctions coin,
And with great cafe flat contradictions join
A traitor now, once loyal in extreme,
And then obedience was his only theme:
He fung in temples the moft paffive lays,
And wearied monarchs with repeated praise ;
But manag'd aukwardly that lawful part;
To vent foul lies and treafon was his art,
And pointed libels at crown'd heads to dart.
This priest, and others learned to defame,
First murder injur'd Tullius in his name;
With blackeft calumnies their fovereign load,
A poifon'd brother, and dark league abroad;
A fon unjustly top'd upon the throne,
Which yet was prov'd undoubtedly his own;
Though, as the law was there, 'twas his behoof,
Who difpoffefs'd the heir, to bring the proof.
This hellish charge they back'd with difmal frights,
The lofs of property and facred rights,
And freedom, words which all false patriots use,
As fureft names the Romans to abuse.
Jealous of kings, and always malecontent,
Forward in change, yet certain to repent.
Whilft thus the plotters needful fears create,
Tarquin with open force invades the state.
Lewd nobles join him with their feeble might,
And atheist fools for dear religion fight.
The priests their boafted principles difown,
And level their harangues against the throne.
Vain promises the people's minds allure,
Slight were their ills, but desperate the cure.
'Tis hard for kings to fteer an equal course,
And they who banish one, oft gain a worse.
Those heavenly bodies we admire above,
Do every day irregularly move;
Yet Tullius, tis decreed, muft lofe the crown,
For faults, that were his council's, not his own.
He now in vain commands ev'n those he pay'd,
By darling troops deserted and betray'd,
By creatures which his generous warinth had made.
Of thefe a captain of the guards was worft,
Whose memory to this day ftands accurft.
This rogue, advanc'd to military truft
By his own whoredom, and his fifter's luft,
Forfook his mafter, after dreadful vows,
And plotted to betray him to his foes;
The kindeft mafter to the vileft slave,
As free to give, as he was fure to crave.
His haughty female, who, as books declare,
Did always tofs wide noftrils in the air,
Was to the younger Tullia governess,
And did attend her, when, in borrow'd dress,
She fled by night from Tullius in distress.
This wretch, by letters, did invite his foes,
And us'd all arts her father to depose;
A father, always generously bent,
So kind, that ev'n her wishes he'd prevent.
'Twas now high time for Tullius to retreat,
When ev'n his daughter hasten'd his defeat;
When faith and duty vanish'd, and no more
The name of father and of king he bore :
A king, whofe right his foes could ne'er dispute;
So mild, that mercy was his attribute ;
Affable, kind, and easy of accefs;
Swift to relieve, unwilling to opprefs;
Rich without taxes, yet in payment just ;
So honeft, that he hardly could distrust;
His active foul from labours ne'er did cease,
Valiant in war, and vigilant in peace ;
Studious with traffick to enrich the land;
Strong to protect, and fkilful to command;
Liberal and splendid, yet without excess ;
Prone to relieve, unwilling to diftrefs;
In fum, how godlike must his nature be,
Whofe only fault was too much piety!
This king remov'd, th' affembled ftates thought fit
That Tarquin in the vacant throne should fit;
Voted him regent in their fenate-houfe,
And with an empty name endow'd his spouse,
The elder Tullia, who, fome authors feign,
Drove o'er her father's corpfe a rumbling wain:
But fhe more guilty numerous wains did drive
To crufh her father and her king alive;
And in remembrance of his haften'd fall,
Refolv'd to inftitute a weekly ball.
The jolly glutton grew in bulk and chin,
Feafted on rapine, and enjoy'd her fin;
With luxury fhe did weak reafon force,
Debauch'd good-nature, and cram'd down remorse;
Yet when she drank cold tea in liberal fups,
The fobbing dame was maudling in her cups.
But brutal Tarquin never did relent,
Too hard to melt, too wicked to repent;
Cruel in deeds, more merciless in will,
And bleft with natural delight in ill.
From a wife guardian he receiv'd his doom
To walk the Change, and not to govern Rome.
He fwore his native honours to difown,
And did by perjury afcend the throne.
Oh! had that oath his fwelling pride repreft,
Rome had been then with peace and plenty bleft.
But Tarquin, guided by deftructive fate,
The country wafted, and embroil'd the state,
Transported to their foes the Roman pelf,
And by their ruin hop'd to fave himself.
Innumerable woes opprefs'd the land,
When it fubmitted to his curs'd command,
So juft was heaven, that 'twas hard to tell,
Whether its guilt or loffes did excell.
Men that renounc'd their God for dearer trade,
Were then the guardians of religion made.
Rebels were fainted, foreigners did reign,
Outlaws return'd, preferment to obtain,
With frogs, and toads, and all their croaking train.
No native knew their features nor their birth,
They feem'd the greafy offspring of the earth.
The trade was funk, the fleet and army spent ;
Devouring taxes fwallow'd leffer rent;
Taxes impos'd by no authority;
Each lewd collection was a robbery.
Bold felf-creating men did ftatutes draw,
Skill'd to establish villainy by law;
Fanatic drivers, whofe unjust careers
Produc'd new ills exceeding former fears.
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