Pope argues here that since man is a part of the best possible system, whatever seems wrong in him must be right when considered in relation to the whole order of the universe. It is only our ignorance of this order which keeps us from realizing this fact.
the word "movement" is understood after "single."
Pope here illustrates his preceding argument by analogy. We can know no more of God's purpose in the ordering of our lives than the animals can know of our ordering of theirs.
One of the gods of the Egyptians was the sacred bull, Apis.
worshiped as a god, like the Egyptian kings and Roman emperors.
Pope now goes on to argue that on the basis of what has been proved we ought not to regard man as an imperfect being, but rather as one who is perfectly adapted to his place in the universe. His knowledge, for example, is measured by the brief time he has to live and the brief space he can survey.
pronounced in Pope's day as rhyming with "ought."
These lines are really out of place. They first appeared after l. 98; then Pope struck them out altogether. Just before his death he put them into their present place on the advice of Warburton, who probably approved of them because of their reference to a future state of bliss. It is plain that they interfere with the regular argument of the poem.
This line is grammatically dependent upon "hides," l. 77.
used here in the sense of "luxurious life." The lamb is slain to provide for some feast.
'i.e.' God. Hence the relative "who" in the next line.
Pope urges man to comfort himself with hope, seeing that he cannot know the future.
the words "shall be" are to be understood after this phrase.
Point out the exact meaning of this familiar line.
away from its true home, the life to come. This line represents one of the alterations which Warburton induced Pope to make. The poet first wrote "confined at home," thus representing this life as the home of the soul. His friend led him to make the change in order to express more clearly his belief in the soul's immortality.
Show how "rests" and "expatiates" in this line contrast with "uneasy" and "confined" in l. 97.
In this famous passage Pope shows how the belief in immortality is found even among the most ignorant tribes. This is to Pope an argument that the soul must be immortal, since only Nature, or God working through Nature, could have implanted this conception in the Indian's mind.