“ ‘Take not away the life you cannot give; For all things have an equal right to live: Kill noxious creatures, where ’tis sin to save; This only just prerogative we have: But nourish life with vegetable food, And shun the sacrilegious taste of blood.’ ”

These precepts by the Samian sage were taught, Which godlike Numa to the Sabines brought, And thence transferr’d to Rome, by gift his own; A willing people, and an offer’d throne. Oh happy monarch! sent by Heaven to bless A savage nation with soft arts of peace; To teach religion, rapine to restrain, Give laws to lust, and sacrifice ordain: Himself a saint, a goddess was his bride; And all the muses o’er his acts preside.