Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=419866" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Tarquin And Tullia</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">In times when princes cancelled nature's law, <br>And declarations which themselves did draw; <br>When children used their parents to dethrone, <br>And gnaw their way, like vipers, to the crown; <br>Tarquin, a savage, proud, ambitious prince, <br>Prompt to expel, yet thoughtless of defence, <br>The envied sceptre did from Tullius snatch, <br>The Roman king, and father by the match. <br>To form his party, histories report, <br>A sanctuary was opened in his court, <br>Where glad offenders safely might resort. <br>Great was the crowd, and wonderous the success, <br>For those were fruitful times of wickedness; <br>And all that lived obnoxious to the laws, <br>Flocked to prince Tarquin, and embraced his cause. <br>'Mongst these a pagan priest for refuge fled; <br>A prophet deep in godly faction read; <br>A sycophant, that knew the modish way <br>To cant and plot, to flatter and betray, <br>To whine and sin, to scribble and recant, <br>A shameless author, and a lustful saint. <br>To serve all times he could distinctions coin <br>And with great ease flat contradictions join <br>A traitor now, once loyal in extreme, <br>And then obedience was his only theme: <br>He sung in temples the most passive lays <br>And wearied monarchs with repeated praise <br>But managed awkwardly that lawful part, <br>To vent foul lies and treason was his art, <br>And pointed libels at crowned heads to dart. <br>This priest, and others, learned to defame, <br>First murder injured Tullius in his name; <br>With blackest calumnies their sovereign load, <br>A poisoned brother, and dark league abroad; <br>A son unjustly top'd upon the throne, <br>Which yet was proved undoubtedly his own; <br>Though, as the law was then, 'twas his behoof, <br>Who dispossessed the heir, to bring the proof. <br>This hellish charge they backed with dismal frights, <br>The loss of property, and sacred rights, <br>And freedom; words which all false patriots use <br>As surest names the Romans to abuse; <br>Jealous of kings, and always malcontent, <br>Forward in change, yet certain to repent. <br>Whilst thus the plotters needful fears create, <br>Tarquin with open force invades the state. <br>Lewd nobles join him with their feeble might, <br>And atheist fools for dear religion fight. <br>The priests their boasted principles disown, <br>And level their harangues against the throne. <br>Vain promises the people's minds allure: <br>Slight were these ills, but desperate the cure. <br>'Tis hard for kings to steer an equal course, <br>And they who banish one oft gain a worse. <br>Those heavenly bodies we admire above, <br>Do every day irregularly move; <br>Yet Tullius, 'tis decreed, must lose the crown, <br>For faults that were his council's, not his own. <br>He now in vain commands even those he payed, <br>By darling troops deserted and betrayed, <br>By creatures which his generous warmth had made. <br>Of these a captain of the guards was worst, <br>Whose memory to this day stands accurst. <br>This rogue, advanced to military trust <br>By his own whoredom, and his sister's lust, <br>Forsook his master, after dreadful vows, <br>And plotted to betray him to his foes; <br>The kindest master to the vilest slave, <br>As free to give, as he was sure to crave. <br>His haughty female, who, as books declare, <br>Did always toss wide nostrils in the air, <br>Was to the younger Tullia governess, <br>And did attend her, when, in borrowed dress, <br>She fled by night from Tullius in distress. <br>This wretch, by letters, did invite his foes, <br>And used all arts her father to depose; <br>A father, always generously bent, <br>So kind, that even her wishes he'd prevent. <br>'Twas now high time for Tullius to retreat, <br>When even his daughter hastened his defeat; <br>When faith and duty vanished, and no more <br>The name of father and of king he bore: <br>A king, whose right his foes could ne'er dispute; <br>So mild, that mercy was his attribute; <br>Affable, kind, and easy of access; <br>Swift to relieve, unwilling to oppress; <br>Rich without taxes, yet in payment just; <br>So honest, that he hardly could distrust: <br>His active soul from labours ne'er did cease, <br>Valiant in war, and vigilant in peace; <br>Studious with traffic to enrich the land, <br>Strong to protect, and skilful to command; <br>Liberal and splendid, yet without excess; <br>Prone to relieve, unwilling to distress: <br>In sum, how godlike must his nature be, <br>Whose only fault was too much piety! <br>This king removed, the assembled states thought fit, <br>That Tarquin in the vacant throne should sit; <br>Voted him regent in their senate-house, <br>And with an empty name endowed his spouse. <br>The elder Tullia, who, some authors feign, <br>Drove o'er her father's corse a rumbling wain: <br>But she, more guilty, numerous wains did drive, <br>To crush her father and her king alive; <br>And in remembrance of his hastened fall, <br>Resolved to institute a weekly ball. <br>The jolly glutton grew in bulk and chin, <br>Feasted on rapine, and enjoyed her sin; <br>With luxury she did weak reason force, <br>Debauched good-nature, and cram'd down remorse; <br>Yet when she drank cold tea in liberal sups, <br>The sobbing dame was maudling in her cups. <br>But brutal Tarquin never did relent, <br>Too hard to melt, too wicked to repent; <br>Cruel in deeds, more merciless in will, <br>And blest with natural delight in ill. <br>From a wise guardian he received his doom <br>To walk the change, and not to govern Rome. <br>He swore his native honours to disown, <br>And did by perjury ascend the throne. <br>Oh! had that oath his swelling pride represt, <br>Rome had been then with peace and plenty blest. <br>But Tarquin, guided by destructive fate, <br>The country wasted, and embroiled the state, <br>Transported to their foes the Roman pelf, <br>And by their ruin hoped to save himself. <br>Innumerable woes oppress the land, <br>When it submitted to his curs'd command. <br>So just was Heaven, that 'twas hard to tell, <br>Whether its guilt or losses did excel. <br>Men that renounced their God for dearer trade, <br>Were then the guardians of religion made. <br>Rebels were sainted, foreigners did reign, <br>Outlaws returned, preferment to obtain, <br>With frogs, and toads, and all their croaking train. <br>No native knew their features nor their birth; <br>They seemed the greasy offspring of the earth. <br>The trade was sunk, the fleet and army spent; <br>Devouring taxes swallowed lesser rent; <br>Taxes imposed by no authority; <br>Each lewd collection was a robbery. <br>Bold self-creating men did statutes draw, <br>Skilled to establish villainy by law; <br>Fanatic drivers, whose unjust careers. <br>Produced new ills exceeding former fears: <br>Yet authors here except a faithful band, <br>Which the prevailing faction did withstand; <br>And some, who bravely stood in the defence <br>Of baffled justice, and their exiled prince. <br>These shine to after-times; each sacred name <br>Stands still recorded in the rolls of fame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=John+Dryden">John Dryden</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=419866" data-title="Tarquin And Tullia de John Dryden" data-description="In times when princes cancelled nature's law, 
And declarations which themselves did draw; 
When children used their parents to dethrone, 
And gnaw their way, like vipers, to the crown; 
Tarquin, a savage, proud, ambitious prince, 
Prompt to expel..."></div>
</div>
</div>