Secured by higher pow'rs exalted stands
Above the reach of sacrilegious hands.—Wakefield.
[122] The poet here alludes to the four great causes of the ravage amongst ancient writings. The destruction of the Alexandrine and Palatine libraries by fire; the fiercer rage of Zoilus, Mævius, and their followers, against wit; the irruption of the barbarians into the empire; and the long reign of ignorance and superstition in the cloisters.—Warburton.
I like the original verse better—
Destructive war, and all-devouring age,—
as a metaphor much more perspicuous and specific.—Wakefield.
In his epistle to Addison, Pope has "all-devouring age," but the epithet here is more original and striking, and admirably suited to the subject. This shows a nice discrimination. "All-involving" would be as improper in the Essay on Medals as "all-devouring" would be in this place.—Bowles.
A couplet in Cooper's Hill suggested the couplet of Pope:
Now shalt thou stand, though sword, or time, or fire,
Or zeal more fierce than they, thy fall conspire.
[123] Thus in a poem on the Fear of Death, ascribed to the Duke of Wharton:
——There rival chiefs combine
To fill the gen'ral chorus of her reign.—Wakefield.