I am safer so. 30

INSTANS TYRANNUS

I

Of the million or two, more or less,
I rule and possess,
One man, for some cause undefined,
Was least to my mind.

II

I struck him; he groveled, of course-- 5
For what was his force?
I pinned him to earth with my weight
And persistence of hate;
And he lay, would not moan, would not curse,
As his lot might be worse. 10

III

"Were the object less mean, would he stand
At the swing of my hand!
For obscurity helps him and blots
The hole where he squats."
So I set my five wits on the stretch 15
To inveigle the wretch.
All in vain! Gold and jewels I threw;
Still he couched there perdue;
I tempted his blood and his flesh,
Hid in roses my mesh, 20
Choicest cates and the flagon's best spilth;
Still he kept to his filth.

IV

Had he kith now or kin, were access
To his heart, did I press;
Just a son or a mother to seize! 25
No such booty as these.
Were it simply a friend to pursue
'Mid my million or two,
Who could pay me in person or pelf
What he owes me himself! 30
No; I could not but smile through my chafe;
For the fellow lay safe
As his mates do, the midge and the nit
--Through minuteness, to wit.

V

Then a humor more great took its place 35
At the thought of his face,
The droop, the low cares of the mouth,
The trouble uncouth
'Twixt the brows, all that air one is fain
To put out of its pain. 40
And, "no!" I admonished myself,
"Is one mocked by an elf,
Is one baffled by toad or by rat?
The gravamen's in that!
How the lion, who crouches to suit 45
His back to my foot,
Would admire that I stand in debate!
But the small turns the great
If it vexes you--that is the thing!
Toad or rat vex the king? 50
Though I waste half my realm to unearth
Toad or rat, 'tis well worth!"

VI

So I soberly laid my last plan
To extinguish the man.
Round his creep-hole, with never a break,