The single lesson of mankind on earth.
And yet—yet, what? No news! Mankind is mad;
Such mighty numbers list against the right,
(And what can’t numbers, when bewitch’d, achieve!)
They talk themselves to something like belief,
That all earth’s joys are theirs: as Athens’ fool
Grinn’d from the port, on every sail his own.
They grin; but wherefore? and how long the laugh?
Half ignorance, their mirth; and half, a lie; 1313
To cheat the world, and cheat themselves, they smile.