How do thy potions, with insidious joy,

Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy!

Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown,

Boast of a florid vigour not their own:

At every draught more large and large they grow,

A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe;


Till, sapp'd their strength, and every part unsound,

Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round.