Historic be the survey of our kind, <br />And how their brave Society took shape. <br />Lion, wolf, vulture, fox, jackal and ape, <br />The strong of limb, the keen of nose, we find, <br />Who, with some jars in harmony, combined, <br />Their primal instincts taming, to escape <br />The brawl indecent, and hot passions drape. <br />Convenience pricked conscience, that the mind. <br />Thus entered they the field of milder beasts, <br />Which in some sort of civil order graze, <br />And do half-homage to the God of Laws. <br />But are they still for their old ravenous feasts, <br />Earth gives the edifice they build no base: <br />They spring another flood of fangs and claws.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/society-27/
