In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the bless'd abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods. (Essay on Man) -
Alexander Pope
There is a god within us, and we have intercourse with heaven. That spirit comes from abodes on high. [La., Est deus in nobis, et sunt commercia coeli. Sedibus aetheriis spiritus ille venit] (Ars Amatoria) -
Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Force first made conquest, and that conquest law, Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe, Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid, And gods of conqu'rors, slaves of subjects made: She, 'midst the lightning's blaze and thunder's sound, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray To Power unseen, and mightier far than they: She, from the rending earth and bursting skies, Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise; Here fixed the dreadful, there the blest abodes; Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods. -
Alexander Pope
The gods and their tranquil abodes appear, which no winds disturb, nor clouds bedew with showers, nor does the white snow, hardened by frost, annoy them; the heaven, always pure, is without clouds, and smiles with pleasant light diffused. [La., Apparet divom numen, sedesque quietae; Quas neque concutiunt ventei, nec nubila nimbeis. Aspergunt, neque nex acri concreta pruina Cana cadens violat; semper sine nubibus aether Integer, et large diffuso lumine ridet] (De Rerum Natura) -
Lucretius [Titus Luretius Carus]
