Doth, through his bounty, congregate itself,
Mirror’d, as ’t were in new existences,
Itself unalterable and ever one. 
     “Descending hence unto the lowest powers,
Its energy so sinks, at last it makes
But brief contingencies:  for so I name
Things generated, which the heav’nly orbs
Moving, with seed or without seed, produce. 
Their wax, and that which molds it, differ much: 
And thence with lustre, more or less, it shows
Th’ ideal stamp impress:  so that one tree
According to his kind, hath better fruit,
And worse:  and, at your birth, ye, mortal men,
Are in your talents various.  Were the wax
Molded with nice exactness, and the heav’n
In its disposing influence supreme,
The lustre of the seal should be complete: 
But nature renders it imperfect ever,
Resembling thus the artist in her work,
Whose faultering hand is faithless to his skill. 
Howe’er, if love itself dispose, and mark
The primal virtue, kindling with bright view,
There all perfection is vouchsafed; and such
The clay was made, accomplish’d with each gift,
That life can teem with; such the burden fill’d
The virgin’s bosom:  so that I commend
Thy judgment, that the human nature ne’er
Was or can be, such as in them it was. 
     “Did I advance no further than this point,
‘How then had he no peer?’ thou might’st reply. 
But, that what now appears not, may appear
Right plainly, ponder, who he was, and what
(When he was bidden ‘Ask’ ), the motive sway’d
To his requesting.  I have spoken thus,
That thou mayst see, he was a king, who ask’d
For wisdom, to the end he might be king
Sufficient:  not the number to search out
Of the celestial movers; or to know,
If necessary with contingent e’er
Have made necessity; or whether that
Be granted, that first motion is; or if
Of the mid circle can, by art, be made
Triangle with each corner, blunt or sharp. 
     “Whence, noting that, which I have said, and this,
Thou kingly prudence and that ken mayst learn,
At which the dart of my intention aims. 
And, marking clearly, that I told thee, ‘Risen,’
Thou shalt discern it only hath respect
To kings, of whom are many, and the good
Are rare.  With this distinction take my words;
And they may well consist with that which thou
Of the first human father dost believe,
And of our well-beloved.  And let this
Henceforth be led unto thy feet, to make
Thee slow in motion, as a weary man,
Both to the ‘yea’ and to the ‘nay’ thou seest not. 
For he among the fools is down full low,
Whose affirmation, or denial, is
Without distinction, in each case alike
Since it befalls, that in most instances
Current opinion leads to false:  and then
Affection bends the judgment to her ply. 
     “Much more than vainly doth he loose from shore,
Since he returns not such as he set forth,