Beginning with the line "In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin," and set against the backdrop of the Popish Plot and the Duke of Monmouth's revolt, FTP name this poem that uses the rebellion of one of the title characters against King David as a pretense for discussing British politics, a work of John Dryden.
One section of this poem notes, "fainting Virtue scarce maintained her ground," while a relevant historical reference addresses "monarchs murdered for imagined crimes" and notes that the "fleece accompanies the flock."  Nahum Tate authored a second part a year after the first, and the original author invokes Thomas Hobbes at one point with a line about "nature's state, where all have right to all."  Beginning with the line "In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin," and set against the backdrop of the Popish Plot and the Duke of Monmouth's revolt, FTP name this poem that uses the rebellion of one of the title characters against King David as a pretense for discussing British politics, a work of John Dryden.
One section of this poem notes, "fainting Virtue scarce maintained her ground," while a relevant historical reference addresses "monarchs murdered for imagined crimes" and notes that the "fleece accompanies the flock."  
Absalom and Achitophel