Lollius

1 
 Why gird at Lollius if he care
  To purchase in the city’s sight,
 With nard and roses for his hair,
  The name of Knight? 
2
Son of unmitigated sires
  Enriched by trade in Afric corn,
His wealth allows, his wife requires,
  Him to be born. 
3
Him slaves shall serve with zeal renewed
  At lesser wage for longer whiles,
And school- and station-masters rude
  Receive with smiles. 
4
His bowels shall be sought in charge
  By learned doctors; all his sons
And nubile daughters shall enlarge
  Their horizons.
5
For fierce she-Britons, apt to smite
  Their upward-climbing sisters down,
Shall smooth their plumes and oft invite
  The brood to town.
6
For these delights will he disgorge
  The State enormous benefice,
But—by the head of either George—
  He pays not twice! 
7
Whom neither lust for public pelf,
  Nor itch to make orations, vex—
Content to honour his own self
  With his own cheques— 
8
That man is clean. At least, his house
  Springs cleanly from untainted gold—
Not from a conscience or a spouse
  Sold and resold. 
9
Time was, you say, before men knew
  Such arts, and rose by Virtue guided?
The tables rock with laughter—you
  Not least derided.

Choose another poem