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le patient wrought An equal number of that race who share The labor of the steed, without his praise. --Three thousand camels, with their arching necks, Ships of the desert, knelt to do his will, And bear his surplus wealth to distant climes, While more than twice three thousand snowy sheep Whitened the hills. Troops of retainers fed These flocks and herds, and their subsistence drew From the same lord,--so that this man of Uz Greater than all the magnates of the east, Dwelt in old time before us. True he gave, And faithfully, the hireling his reward, Counting such justice 'mid the happier forms Of Charity, which with a liberal hand He to the sad and suffering poor dispensed. Eyes was he to the blind, and to the lame Feet, while the stranger and the traveller found Beneath, the welcome shelter of his roof The blessed boon of hospitality. To him the fatherless and widow sought For aid and counsel. Fearlessly he rose For those who had no helper. His just mind Brought stifled truth to light, disarm'd the wiles Of power, and gave deliverance to the weak. He pluck'd the victim from the oppressor's grasp, And made the tyrant tremble. To his words Men listened, as to lore oracular, And when beside the gate he took his seat The young kept silence, and the old rose up To do him honor. After his decree None spake again, for as a prince he dwelt Wearing the diadem of righteousness, And robed in that respect which greatness wins When leagued with goodness, and by wisdom crown'd. The grateful prayers and blessings of the souls Ready to perish, silently distill'd Upon him, as he slept. So as a tree Whose root is by the river's brink, he grew And flourish'd, while the dews like balm-drops hung All night upon his branches. Yet let none Of woman born, presume to build his hopes On the worn cliff of brief prosperity, Or from the present promise, predicate The future joy. The exulting bird that sings Mid the green curtains of its leafy nest His tuneful trust untroubled there to live, And there to die, may meet the archer's shaft When next it spreads the wing. The tempest folds O'er the smooth forehead of the summer noon Its undiscover'd purpose, to emerge Resistless from its armory, and whelm In floods of ruin, ere the day decline. * * * * * Lightning and sword!
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