But if the cause by battle should be tried, }
You grant she must espouse the regal side; }
O Proteus conscience, never to be tied! }
What Phœbus from the Tripod shall disclose,
Which are, in last resort, your friends or foes?
Homer, who learned the language of the sky,
The seeming Gordian knot would soon untie;
Immortal powers the term of Conscience know,[227]
But Interest is her name with men below.—
Conscience or Interest be't, or both in one,