On Gold

All-ruling tyrant of the earth,     To vilest slaves I owe my birth,     How is the greatest monarch blest,     When in my gaudy livery drest!     No haughty nymph has power to run     From me; or my embraces shun.     Stabb'd to the heart, condemn'd to flame,     My constancy is still the same.     The favourite messenger of Jove,     And Lemnian god, consulting strove     To make me glorious to the sight     Of mortals, and the gods' delight.     Soon would their altar's flame expire     If I refused to lend them fire.         By fate exalted high in place,         Lo, here I stand with double face:         Superior none on earth I find;         But see below me all mankind         Yet, as it oft attends the great,         I almost sink with my own weight.     At every motion undertook,     The vulgar all consult my look.     I sometimes give advice in writing,     But never of my own inditing.         I am a courtier in my way;     For those who raised me, I betray;     And some give out that I entice     To lust, to luxury, and dice.     Who punishments on me inflict,     Because they find their pockets pickt.         By riding post, I lose my health,     And only to get others wealth.