Satires 1.7 (Creech): Proscripti Regis Rupili

HOw mungrel Persius paid Rupilius off,
Sur-nam'd the King, that banish't railing Huff,
And gave him Quid for Quo, I think is known
To all the Blind and Barbers shops in Town:
This Persius rich half Asia did molest
With Law-suits, and the King amongst the rest:
Bold, Impudent He was, and still at strife,
And as malicious as the King for's Life.
Haughty, and such a bitter Rogue to rail,
That Piso hardly could blow wind in's Tail:
But to return, when nought could calm their rage,
(For so 'tis still when Two great Souls engage:)
Thus in Achilles and in Hector's strife,
Their Emulation was as long as life;
Because they both were brave, their minds were great,
Their courage equal, and alike their heat;
But when two Cowards, or unequal Foes,
As when soft Glaucus Diomed did oppose,
The weaker yields unable to defend,
And gives the other bribes to be his Friend.
When Brutus Asia rul'd, this railing Pair,
Not Byth and Bacchus were a Match so fair,
Began their Suit; away to Court they run
Both hot, and gaz'd at both by every one.
Persius begins and doth the Cause explain,
(We laugh, and as He speaks we laugh again)
And praiseth Brutus much, and all his Train:
He calls him Asia's Sun, a glorious thing,
And all were Stars benign except the King;
The Dog-Star He, that Star that poison yields,
And sheds malicious Influence o're our fields.
Thus heedlesly he still pursu'd his Theme,
As fierce and muddy as a Winters Stream.
The King enrag'd at this, and swoln with hate,
Empties his Stomach straight in Billingsgate;
The finest Rhetorick the World hath known,
The very inside of a Bawling Clown.
But Persius netled with his sharp replies,
At last, Brutus, since Thou art wont, He cries,
To murther Kings; for Heavens sake why not This?
For this would prove a good and great design,
Brutus, this ought to be an act of thine.