Translation Of A Speech Of Aquileio In The Adriano Of Metastasio

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Title:     Translation Of A Speech Of Aquileio In The Adriano Of Metastasio
Author: Samuel Johnson [More Titles by Johnson]

TRANSLATION
OF A SPEECH OF AQUILEIO, IN THE ADRIANO OF METASTASIO,
BEGINNING "TU CHE IN CORTE INVECCHIASTI[a]."

Grown old in courts, thou surely art not one
Who keeps the rigid rules of ancient honour;
Well skill'd to sooth a foe with looks of kindness,
To sink the fatal precipice before him,
And then lament his fall, with seeming friendship:
Open to all, true only to thyself,
Thou know'st those arts, which blast with envious praise,
Which aggravate a fault, with feign'd excuses,
And drive discountenanc'd virtue from the throne;
That leave the blame of rigour to the prince,
And of his ev'ry gift usurp the merit;
That hide, in seeming zeal, a wicked purpose,
And only build upon another's ruin.

 

[a] The character of Cali, in Irene, is a masterly sketch of the old and practised dissembler of a despotic court,--ED.

[The end]
Samuel Johnson's poem: Translation Of A Speech Of Aquileio In The Adriano Of Metastasio

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