The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pope's Works (2 of 10) -- Poetry (2), by Alexander Pope.

The business of man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His middle nature, his power, frailties, and the limits of his capacity.

I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,[1110]
The proper study of mankind is man.[1111]
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,[1112]
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,[1113] 5
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,[1114]
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;[1115]
In doubt to deem himself a god or beast;[1116]
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;[1117] 10
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,[1118]
Whether he thinks too little or too much;[1119]
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;[1120]
Still by himself abused,[1121] or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;[1122] 15
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world![1123]
[1124] Go, wondrous creature! mount [1125] where science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; 20
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,[1126]
Correct old Time,[1127] and regulate the sun;[1128]
Go, soar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;[1129]
Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod; 25
And quitting sense call imitating God;[1130]
As eastern priests in giddy circles run,[1131]
And turn their heads to imitate the sun.[1132]
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule [1133]—
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool! 30
Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man [1134] unfold all nature's law,
Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape,[1135]
And showed a Newton, as we show an ape.[1136]
Could he, whose rules the rapid comet [1137] bind,[1138] 35
Describe or fix one movement of his mind?[1139]
Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend,[1140]
Explain his own beginning or his end?[1141]
Alas! what wonder![1142] man's superior part [1143]
Unchecked may rise, and climb from art to art;[1144] 40
But when his own great work is but begun,
What reason weaves, by passion is undone,[1145]
Trace science then, with modesty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of pride;
Deduct what is but vanity or dress, 45
Or learning's luxury, or idleness;
Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts
Of all [1146] our vices have created arts; 50
Then see how little the remaining sum,
Which served the past, and must the times to come![1147]

The two principles of man, self-love and reason, both necessary.

II. Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain;[1148]
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call, 55
Each works its end to move or govern all:[1149]
And to their proper operation still [1150]
Ascribe all good; to their improper, ill.

Self-love the stronger, and why.

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts [1151] the soul;
Reason's comparing balance rules the whole.[1152] 60
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end:
Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;[1153]
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,[1154] 65
Destroying others, by himself destroyed.
Most strength the moving principle requires;
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires;
Sedate and quiet, the comparing lies,
Formed but to check, delib'rate, and advise. 70
Self-love still stronger, as its objects nigh:
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie:[1155]
That sees immediate good by present sense;
Reason, the future and the consequence.[1156]

Their end the same.

Thicker than arguments, temptations throng, 75
At best more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to suspend,
Reason still use, to reason still attend.
Attention, habit and experience gains;[1157]
Each strengthens reason, and self-love restrains. 80
Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More studious to divide than to unite;
And grace and virtue,[1158] sense [1159] and reason split,[1160]
With all the rash dexterity of wit.
Wits, just like fools, at war about a name, 85
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.[1161]
Self-love and reason to one end aspire,
Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire;[1162]

The passions and their use.

But greedy that, its object would devour,
This taste the honey, and not wound the flow'r: 90
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.
III. Modes of self-love the passions we may call;
'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all:[1163]
But since not ev'ry good we can divide, 95
And reason bids us for our own provide,
Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair,[1164]
List [1165] under reason, and deserve her care;
Those, that imparted, court [1166] a nobler aim,
Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name.[1167] 100
In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fixed;[1168] 'tis fixed as in a frost;[1169]
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;[1170]
But strength of mind is exercise, not rest:[1171]
The rising tempest puts in act the soul,[1172] 105
Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole.[1173]
On life's vast ocean diversely we sail,[1174]
Reason the card,[1175] but passion is the gale;[1176]
Nor God alone in the still calm we find,
He mounts the storms, and walks upon the wind.[1177] 110

The predominant passion and its force.

Passions, like elements, though born to fight,
Yet, mixed and softened, in his work unite:[1178]
These, 'tis enough to temper and employ;
But what composes man, can man destroy?[1179]
Suffice that reason keep to nature's road, 115
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.[1180]
Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train,
Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain,[1181]
These mixed with art,[1182] and to due bounds confined,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind: 120
The lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife [1183]
Gives all the strength and colour of our life.
Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes;
And when in act they cease, in prospect rise:
Present to grasp, and future still to find,[1184] 125
The whole employ of body and of mind.[1185]
All spread their charms, but charm not all alike;
On diff'rent senses diff'rent objects strike;[1186]
Hence diff'rent passions more or less inflame,
As strong or weak the organs of the frame;[1187] 130
And hence one master passion in the breast,
Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.[1188]
As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath,
Receives the lurking principle of death;
The young disease, that must subdue at length, 135
Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength:
So, cast and mingled with his very frame,[1189]
The mind's disease, its ruling passion, came;
Each vital humour which should feed the whole,
Soon flows to this, in body and in soul: 140
Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dang'rous art,
And pours it all upon the peccant part.[1190]
Nature its mother, habit is its nurse; 145
Wit, spirit, faculties,[1191] but make it worse;
Reason itself but gives it edge and pow'r;[1192]
As heav'n's bless'd beam turns vinegar more sour.[1193]
We, wretched subjects, though to lawful sway,[1194]
In this weak queen some fav'rite still obey; 150
Ah! if she lend not arms as well as rules,
What can she more [1195] than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend,
A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend!
Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade 155
The choice we make, or justify it made;[1196]
Proud of an easy conquest all along,
She but removes weak passions for the strong.[1197]
So when small humours gather to a gout,
The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out.[1198] 160
Yes, nature's road must ever be preferred;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard;
'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,
And treat this passion more as friend than foe:

Its necessity in directing men to different purposes.

A mightier pow'r the strong direction sends,[1199] 165
And sev'ral men impels to sev'ral ends:[1200]
Like varying winds, by other passions tossed,
This drives them constant to a certain coast.[1201]
Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease;[1202] 170
Through life 'tis followed, ev'en at life's expense;
The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence,
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,
All, all alike find reason on their side.

Its providential use in fixing our principle, and ascertaining our virtue.

Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill,[1203] 175
Grafts on this passion our best principle:
'Tis thus the mercury of man is fixed,[1204]
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mixed;
The dross cements what else were too refined,
And in one int'rest body acts with mind. 180
As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,
On savage stocks inserted learn to bear,[1205]
The surest virtues thus from passions shoot,[1206]
Wild nature's vigour working at the root.[1207]
What crops of wit and honesty appear 185
From spleen, from obstinacy, hate or fear![1208]
See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;[1209]
Ev'n av'rice, prudence; sloth, philosophy;
Lust, through some certain strainers well refined,
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; 190
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;[1210]
Nor virtue, male or female, can we name,
But what will grow on pride,[1211] or grow on shame.[1212]

Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident. The office of reason.

[1213]Thus nature gives us (let it check our pride)[1214] 195
The virtue nearest to our vice allied;[1215]
Reason the bias turns to good from ill,[1216]
And Nero reigns a Titus if he will.[1217]
The fiery soul abhorred in Catiline,
In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine:[1218] 200
The same ambition can destroy or save,
And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.[1219]
This light and darkness in our chaos joined,
What shall divide? The god within the mind.[1220]
Extremes in nature equal ends produce, 205
In man they join to some mysterious use;[1221]
Though each by turns the other's bound invade,
As, in some well-wrought picture, light and shade,[1222]
And oft so mix, the diff'rence is too nice [1223]
Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice. 210
Fools! who from hence into the notion fall,
That vice or virtue there is none at all.
If white and black blend, soften, and unite
A thousand ways, is there no black or white?[1224]
Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain; 215
'Tis to mistake them costs the time and pain. [1225]

Vice odious in itself and how we deceive ourselves into it.

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;[1226]
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity,[1227] then embrace.[1228] 220
But where th' extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed:
Ask where's the North? at York, 'tis on the Tweed;
In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
No creature owns it in the first degree, 225
But thinks his neighbour farther gone than he;[1229]
Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone,[1230]
Or never feel the rage, or never own;[1231]
What happier natures shrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right.[1232] 230

The ends of Providence, and general good, answered in our passions and imperfections. How usefully these are distributed to all orders of men.

Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must be,
Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree:[1233]
The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise;
And ev'n the best, by fits, what they despise.[1234]
'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill; 235
For, vice or virtue, self directs it still;[1235]
Each individual seeks a sev'ral goal;
But heav'n's great view is one, and that the whole.
That counterworks each folly and caprice;
That disappoints th' effect of ev'ry vice;[1236] 240
That, happy frailties to all ranks applied,[1237]
Shame to the virgin,[1238] to the matron pride,
Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief,
To kings presumption, and to crowds belief:
That virtue's ends from vanity can raise, 245
Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise;[1239]
And build [1240] on wants, and on defects of mind,
The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.

How useful these are to society in general:

Heav'n forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend, 250
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
The common int'rest, or endear the tie.
To these we owe true friendship, love sincere, 255
Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;[1241]
Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,
Those joys, those loves, those int'rests to resign:[1242]
Taught half by reason, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away. 260

And to individuals in particular in every state:

Whate'er the passion,—knowledge, fame, or pelf,—
Not one will change his neighbour with himself.[1243]
The learn'd is happy nature to explore,[1244]
The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty giv'n, 265
The poor contents him with the care of heav'n.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The sot a hero, lunatic a king;
The starving chemist in his golden views
Supremely blessed, [1245] the poet in his muse. [1246] 270

And in every age of life.

See some strange comfort ev'ry state attend,
And pride bestowed on all, a common friend:[1247]
See some fit passion ev'ry age supply,
Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.[1248]
Behold the child, by nature's kindly law [1249] 275
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw:
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,
A little louder,[1250] but as empty quite:
Scarfs, garters,[1251] gold, amuse his riper stage,[1252]
And beads [1253] and pray'r-books are the toys of age: 280
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before;
Till tired he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er.[1254]
Mean while [1255] opinion gilds with varying rays
Those painted clouds that beautify our days;[1256]
Each want of happiness by hope supplied, 285
And each vacuity of sense by pride:[1257]
These build as fast as knowledge can destroy;[1258]
In folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy;
One prospect lost, another still we gain;[1259]
And not a vanity is giv'n in vain;[1260] 290
Ev'n mean self-love becomes, by force divine,
The scale to measure others' wants by thine.[1261]
See, and confess, one comfort still must rise;[1262]
'Tis this, though man's a fool, yet God is wise![1263]