Absalom and Achitophel is a celebrated satirical poem by John Dryden, written in heroic couplets and first published in 1681. The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis . The poem also references the Popish Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion .
“Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.”
Pt. I line 83-84.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
“Nor is the people's judgment always true:
The most may err as grossly as the few.”
Pt. I, lines 781–782.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Pt. I, line 999–1005. Compare Publius Syrus, Maxim 289, "Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia" ("An over-taxed patience gives way to fierce anger").
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Context: Oh that my Pow'r to Saving were confin’d:
Why am I forc’d, like Heav’n, against my mind,
To make Examples of another Kind?
Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?
Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!
How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man.
