Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FABLE: THE BEAU AND THE VIPER, by NATHANIEL COTTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FABLE: THE BEAU AND THE VIPER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All wise philosophers maintain
Last Line: Be still, be humble, and adore!'
Subject(s): Animals; Creation; Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature


ALL wise philosophers maintain
Nature created nought in vain.
Yet some with supercilious brow
Deny the truth asserted now.
What if I show that only man
Appears defective in the plan!
Say, will the sceptic lay aside
His sneers, his arrogance, and pride?
A Beau, imported fresh from France,
Whose study was to dress and dance;
Who had betimes, in Gallia's school,
Grafted the coxcomb on the fool;
Approach'd a wood one summer's day,
To screen him from the scorching ray.
And as he travers'd through the grove,
Scheming of gallantry and love,
A Viper's spiry folds were seen,
Sparkling with azure, gold, and green;
The Beau indignant, weak, and proud,
With transport thus exclaim'd aloud:—
'Avaunt, detested fiend of night!
Thou torture to the human sight!
To every reptile a disgrace,
And fatal to our godlike race.
Why were such creatures form'd as you,
Unless to prove my doctrine true;
That when we view this nether sphere,
Nor wisdom nor design appear?'
The Serpent rais'd his angry crest,
An honest zeal inflam'd his breast.
His hissings struck the fopling's ear,
And shook his very soul with fear.
'Inglorious wretch!' the Viper cries,
'How dare you broach infernal lies?
Is there, in all creation's chain,
A link so worthless and so vain?
Grant that your dress were truly thine,
How can your gold compare with mine?
Your vestments are of garter hue,
Mine boast a far superior blue.
'You style me Reptile in contempt,
You are that very reptile meant;
A two-legg'd thing which crawls on earth,
Void of utility and worth.
'You call me fatal to your race—
Was ever charge so false and base?
You can't in all your annals find,
That unprovok'd we hurt mankind.
Uninjur'd, men in mischief deal,
We only bite the hostile heel.
'Do not we yield our lives to feed,
And save your vile distemper'd breed?
When leprosy pollutes your veins,
Do not we purge the loathsome stains?
When riot and excess prevail,
And health, and strength, and spirits fail;
Doctors from us their aid derive,
Hence penitential rakes revive.
We bleed to make the caitiffs dine,
Or drown to medicate their wine.
'You ask, my poison to what end?
Minute philosopher, attend.
'Nature, munificent and wise,
To all our wants adapts supplies.
Our frames are fitted to our need,
Hence greyhounds are endued with speed.
Lions by force their prey subdue,
By force maintain their empire too:
But power, although the lion's fame,
Was never known the Viper's claim.
Observe, when I unrol my length—
Say, is my structure form'd for strength?
Doth not celerity imply
Or legs to run, or wings to fly?
My jaws are constituted weak,
Hence poison lurks behind my cheek.
As lightning quick my fangs convey
This liquid to my wounded prey.
The venom thus insures my bite,
For wounds preclude the victim's flight.
'But why this deadly juice, you cry,
To make the wretched captive die?
Why not possess'd of stronger jaws,
Or arm'd like savage brutes with claws?
'Can such weak arguments persuade?
Ask rather, why were Vipers made?
To me my poison's more than wealth,
And to ungrateful mortals health.
In this benevolent design
My various organs all combine.
Strike out the poison from my frame,
My system were no more the same.
I then should want my comforts due,
Nay, lose my very being too.
And you'd, as doctors all agree,
A sovereign medicine lose in me.
'Now learn, 'tis arrogance in man
To censure what he cannot scan.
Nor dare to charge God's works with ill,
Since Vipers kind designs fulfil:
But give injurious scruples o'er,
Be still, be humble, and adore!'





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