True Virtue opens heaven to worth:She makes the way she does not find:The vulgar crowd, the humid earth,Her soaring pinion leaves behind.Seal'd lips have blessings sure to come:Who drags Eleusis' rite today,That man shall never share my home,Or join my voyage: roofs give wayAnd boats are wreck'd: true men and thievesNeglected Justice oft confounds:Though Vengeance halt, she seldom leavesThe wretch whose flying steps she hounds.

The man of firm and righteous will,No rabble, clamorous for the wrong,No tyrant's brow, whose frown may kill,Can shake the strength that makes him strong:Not winds, that chafe the sea they sway,Nor Jove's right hand, with lightning red:Should Nature's pillar'd frame give way,That wreck would strike one fearless head.