And hard the conflict: horrible the thought,

That Love, who boasts of his all-conquering impulse,

Should have to mourn abortive energies...

But in proportion as Mankind increase,

So evils multiply: till Nature's self,

(The native passions of the human mind)

Engender War; which thins, and segregates,

And rectifies the balance of the world:

As thick-sown plants in the vegetable world,

With stretching branches wage continual War;