...obvious in 1681 than the contemporary identities of the figures in its opening lines? In pious times, e'r Priest-craft did begin, Before Polygamy was made a sin; When man, on many, multiply'd his kind, E'r one to one was, cursedly, confind: When Nature prompted, and no law deny'd...

...From root to crown Ideas flow up And vetoes down. DRYDENJohn 1631-1700 1185 Absalom and Achitophel In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin. 1 186 Absalom and Achitophel Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths...

...Brahmädatta quite willingly accepts to take a hundred young women as his wives. Dryden referred to ".. pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin." He obviously did not know that there existed societies where priest-craft blessed and sometimes even...

...and Achitophel" (1681) satirized King Charles II as promiscuous, he chose David for the caricature:10 In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before...many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd; When nature prompted, and no law denied Promiscuous use of concubine and bride; Then Israel's...

...illegitimacy, in terms which appeal to his age's ribald temper and also its distrust of religious fervour. In pious times, ere Priestcraft did begin, Before...man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was, cutsedly, confined . . . In this sexually liberated version of the Golden Age, David begat Absalom,...

...Charles's sexual behavior through the precedent set by the Old Testament patriarchs: In pious times, e'r Priest-craft did begin, Before Polygamy was made a sin; When man, on many, multiply 'd his kind, E'r one to one was, cursedly, confind: When Nature prompted, and no law deny'd...

...Dryden defended Charles II against the same charge by making a bizarre appeal to Jewish precedent: In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before...to one was cursedly confined; When nature prompted, but no law denied Promiscuous use of concubine and bride; Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own...

...taint. Indeed, the poem wittily legitimizes royal profligacy by identifying it with David's polygamy: "When Nature prompted, and no law denied / Promiscuous use of Concubine and Bride" (11. 5-6). He fuses the early Stuart theory of royal absolutism with a daring parody of Genesis 1 :26-28,...

...of oblivion were as necessary in a hot, distempered state, as an opiate would be in a raging fever. In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before...and bride; Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own heart,0 His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command. Scattered...

...handled with a most telling exactness, and by an irony that suffuses the whole: In pious times, e'r Priest-craft did begin, Before Polygamy was made a sin; When man, on many, multiply 'd his kind, E'r one to one was, cursedly, confined: When Nature prompted, and no law deny'd...