He told him that he saw a vast multitude and a promiscuous, their habitations like molehills, the men as emmets […]
1666, Dr. Edmund King, Philosophical Transactions (1665-1678) Observations Concerning Emmets or Ants, Their Eggs, Production, Progress, Coming to Maturity, Use, &c
What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?
An Emmet match an Emperor in might?