The Four Zoas (Excerpt)

First Trades & Commerce, ships & armed vessels he builded laborious,

To swim the deep; & on the Land children are sold to trades

Of dire necessity' still labouring day & night; till all

Their life extinct, they took the spectre form in dark despair:

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They forged the sword, the chariot of war, the battle axe,

The trumpet fitted to the battle; & the flute of summer

And all the arts of life they changed into the arts of death,

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And in their stead intricate wheels invented, wheel without wheel,

To perplex youth in their outgoings, & to bind to labours

Of day & night thy myriads of eternity—that they might file

And polish brass & iron, hour after hour, laborious workmanship,

Kept ignorant of the use, that they might spend the days of wisdom

In sorrowful drudgery to obtain a scanty pittance of bread;

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'O Lord, wilt thou not look upon our sore afflictions

Among these flames incessant labouring? Our hard masters laugh

At all our sorrow. We are made to turn the wheel for water,

To carry the heavy basket on our scorched shoulders, to sift

The sand & ashes, & to mix the clay with tears & repentance

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Our beauty is coverd over with clay & ashes, & our backs

Furrowd with whips, & our flesh bruised with the heavy basket.

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Compell the poor to live upon a crust of bread by soft mild arts.

Smile when they frown, frown when they smile; & when a man looks pale

With labour & abstinence, say he looks healthy & happy—

And when his children sicken, let them die. There are enough

Born, even too many, & our earth will be overrun

Without these arts. If you would make the poor live with temper,

With pomp give every crust of bread you give, with gracious cunning

Magnify small gifts, reduce the man to want a gift, & then give with pomp:

Say he smiles if you hear him sigh; if pale say he is ruddy:

Preach temperance, say he is overgorged & drowns his wit

In strong drink, though you know that bread & water are all

He can afford. Flatter his wife, pity his children, till we can

Reduce all to our will, as spaniels are taught with art.