Are no brothers of my blood;
They discredit Adamhood.

Eyes of gods! ye must have seen,
O'er your ramparts as ye lean,

The general debility;

Of genius the sterility;

Mighty projects countermanded;

Rash ambition, brokenhanded;
Puny man and scentless rose
Tormenting Pan to double the dose.
Rebuild or ruin: either fill

Of vital force the wasted rill,

Or tumble all again in heap
To weltering chaos and to sleep.

Say, Seigniors, are the old Niles dry, Which fed the veins of earth and sky, That mortals miss the loyal heats,

Which drove them erst to social feats; Now, to a savage selfness grown,

Think nature barely serves for one;

With science poorly mask their hurt,
And vex the gods with question pert,
Immensely curious whether you
Still are rulers, or mildew?

Masters, I am in pain with you;
Masters, I'll be plain with you;
In my palace of Castile,

I, a king, for kings can feel.
There my thoughts the matter roll,

And solve and oft resolve the whole.

And, for I'm styled Alphonse the Wise,

Ye shall not fail for sound advice.

Before ye want a drop of rain,

Hear the sentiment of Spain.

You have tried famine: no more try it;

Ply us now with a full diet;

Teach your pupils now with plenty;

For one sun supply us twenty.

I have thought it thoroughly over,—
State of hermit, state of lover;

We must have society,

We cannot spare variety.

Hear you, then, celestial fellows!
Fits not to be overzealous;

Steads not to work on the clean jump,
Nor wine nor brains perpetual pump.

Men and gods are too extense;
Could you slacken and condense?

Your rank overgrowths reduce

Till your kinds abound with juice?
Earth, crowded, cries, 'Too many men!'

My counsel is, kill nine in ten,

And bestow the shares of all

On the remnant decimal.

Add their nine lives to this cat;

Stuff their nine brains in his hat;

Make his frame and forces square
With the labors he must dare;
Thatch his flesh, and even his years
With the marble which he rears.
There, growing slowly old at ease,
No faster than his planted trees,

He may, by warrant of his age,
In schemes of broader scope engage.

So shall ye have a man of the sphere,
Fit to grace the solar year.

MITHRIDATES.

I CANNOT spare water or wine,

Tobacco-leaf, or poppy, or rose;

From the earth-poles to the line,

All between that works or grows,

Every thing is kin of mine.

Give me agates for my meat;

Give me cantharids to eat;

From air and ocean bring me foods,

From all zones and altitudes;

From all natures, sharp and slimy,

Salt and basalt, wild and tame :

Tree and lichen, ape, sea-lion,

Bird, and reptile, be my game.