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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Paradise Regained</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">THE FIRST BOOK</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">I, WHO erewhile the happy Garden sung<br>By one man's disobedience lost, now sing<br>Recovered Paradise to all mankind,<br>By one man's firm obedience fully tried<br>Through all temptation, and the Tempter foiled<br>In all his wiles, defeated and repulsed,<br>And Eden raised in the waste Wilderness.<br> Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious Eremite<br>Into the desert, his victorious field<br>Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence 10<br>By proof the undoubted Son of God, inspire,<br>As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute,<br>And bear through highth or depth of Nature's bounds,<br>With prosperous wing full summed, to tell of deeds<br>Above heroic, though in secret done,<br>And unrecorded left through many an age:<br>Worthy to have not remained so long unsung.<br> Now had the great Proclaimer, with a voice<br>More awful than the sound of trumpet, cried<br>Repentance, and Heaven's kingdom nigh at hand 20<br>To all baptized. To his great baptism flocked<br>With awe the regions round, and with them came<br>From Nazareth the son of Joseph deemed<br>To the flood Jordan--came as then obscure,<br>Unmarked, unknown. But him the Baptist soon<br>Descried, divinely warned, and witness bore<br>As to his worthier, and would have resigned<br>To him his heavenly office. Nor was long<br>His witness unconfirmed: on him baptized<br>Heaven opened, and in likeness of a Dove 30<br>The Spirit descended, while the Father's voice<br>From Heaven pronounced him his beloved Son.<br>That heard the Adversary, who, roving still<br>About the world, at that assembly famed<br>Would not be last, and, with the voice divine<br>Nigh thunder-struck, the exalted man to whom<br>Such high attest was given a while surveyed<br>With wonder; then, with envy fraught and rage,<br>Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air<br>To council summons all his mighty Peers, 40<br>Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved,<br>A gloomy consistory; and them amidst,<br>With looks aghast and sad, he thus bespake:--<br> "O ancient Powers of Air and this wide World<br>(For much more willingly I mention Air,<br>This our old conquest, than remember Hell,<br>Our hated habitation), well ye know<br>How many ages, as the years of men,<br>This Universe we have possessed, and ruled<br>In manner at our will the affairs of Earth, 50<br>Since Adam and his facile consort Eve<br>Lost Paradise, deceived by me, though since<br>With dread attending when that fatal wound<br>Shall be inflicted by the seed of Eve<br>Upon my head. Long the decrees of Heaven<br>Delay, for longest time to Him is short;<br>And now, too soon for us, the circling hours<br>This dreaded time have compassed, wherein we<br>Must bide the stroke of that long-threatened wound<br>(At least, if so we can, and by the head 60<br>Broken be not intended all our power<br>To be infringed, our freedom and our being<br>In this fair empire won of Earth and Air)--<br>For this ill news I bring: The Woman's Seed,<br>Destined to this, is late of woman born.<br>His birth to our just fear gave no small cause;<br>But his growth now to youth's full flower, displaying<br>All virtue, grace and wisdom to achieve<br>Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear.<br>Before him a great Prophet, to proclaim 70<br>His coming, is sent harbinger, who all<br>Invites, and in the consecrated stream<br>Pretends to wash off sin, and fit them so<br>Purified to receive him pure, or rather<br>To do him honour as their King. All come,<br>And he himself among them was baptized--<br>Not thence to be more pure, but to receive<br>The testimony of Heaven, that who he is<br>Thenceforth the nations may not doubt. I saw<br>The Prophet do him reverence; on him, rising 80<br>Out of the water, Heaven above the clouds<br>Unfold her crystal doors; thence on his head<br>A perfet Dove descend (whate'er it meant);<br>And out of Heaven the sovraign voice I heard,<br>'This is my Son beloved,--in him am pleased.'<br>His mother, than, is mortal, but his Sire<br>He who obtains the monarchy of Heaven;<br>And what will He not do to advance his Son?<br>His first-begot we know, and sore have felt,<br>When his fierce thunder drove us to the Deep; 90<br>Who this is we must learn, for Man he seems<br>In all his lineaments, though in his face<br>The glimpses of his Father's glory shine.<br>Ye see our danger on the utmost edge<br>Of hazard, which admits no long debate,<br>But must with something sudden be opposed<br>(Not force, but well-couched fraud, well-woven snares),<br>Ere in the head of nations he appear,<br>Their king, their leader, and supreme on Earth.<br>I, when no other durst, sole undertook 100<br>The dismal expedition to find out<br>And ruin Adam, and the exploit performed<br>Successfully: a calmer voyage now<br>Will waft me; and the way found prosperous once<br>Induces best to hope of like success."<br> He ended, and his words impression left<br>Of much amazement to the infernal crew,<br>Distracted and surprised with deep dismay<br>At these sad tidings. But no time was then<br>For long indulgence to their fears or grief: 110<br>Unanimous they all commit the care<br>And management of this man enterprise<br>To him, their great Dictator, whose attempt<br>At first against mankind so well had thrived<br>In Adam's overthrow, and led their march<br>From Hell's deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,<br>Regents, and potentates, and kings, yea gods,<br>Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.<br>So to the coast of Jordan he directs<br>His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles, 120<br>Where he might likeliest find this new-declared,<br>This man of men, attested Son of God,<br>Temptation and all guile on him to try--<br>So to subvert whom he suspected raised<br>To end his reign on Earth so long enjoyed:<br>But, contrary, unweeting he fulfilled<br>The purposed counsel, pre-ordained and fixed,<br>Of the Most High, who, in full frequence bright<br>Of Angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake:--<br> "Gabriel, this day, by proof, thou shalt behold, 130<br>Thou and all Angels conversant on Earth<br>With Man or men's affairs, how I begin<br>To verify that solemn message late,<br>On which I sent thee to the Virgin pure<br>In Galilee, that she should bear a son,<br>Great in renown, and called the Son of God.<br>Then told'st her, doubting how these things could be<br>To her a virgin, that on her should come<br>The Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest<br>O'ershadow her. This Man, born and now upgrown, 140<br>To shew him worthy of his birth divine<br>And high prediction, henceforth I expose<br>To Satan; let him tempt, and now assay<br>His utmost subtlety, because he boasts<br>And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng<br>Of his Apostasy. He might have learnt<br>Less overweening, since he failed in Job,<br>Whose constant perseverance overcame<br>Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.<br>He now shall know I can produce a man, 150<br>Of female seed, far abler to resist<br>All his solicitations, and at length<br>All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell--<br>Winning by conquest what the first man lost<br>By fallacy surprised. But first I mean<br>To exercise him in the Wilderness;<br>There he shall first lay down the rudiments<br>Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth<br>To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes.<br>By humiliation and strong sufferance 160<br>His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength,<br>And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;<br>That all the Angels and aethereal Powers--<br>They now, and men hereafter--may discern<br>From what consummate virtue I have chose<br>This perfet man, by merit called my Son,<br>To earn salvation for the sons of men."<br> So spake the Eternal Father, and all Heaven<br>Admiring stood a space; then into hymns<br>Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved, 170<br>Circling the throne and singing, while the hand<br>Sung with the voice, and this the argument:--<br> "Victory and triumph to the Son of God,<br>Now entering his great duel, not of arms,<br>But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles!<br>The Father knows the Son; therefore secure<br>Ventures his filial virtue, though untried,<br>Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er seduce,<br>Allure, or terrify, or undermine.<br>Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell, 180<br>And, devilish machinations, come to nought!"<br> So they in Heaven their odes and vigils tuned.<br>Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days<br>Lodged in Bethabara, where John baptized,<br>Musing and much revolving in his breast<br>How best the mighty work he might begin<br>Of Saviour to mankind, and which way first<br>Publish his godlike office now mature,<br>One day forth walked alone, the Spirit leading<br>And his deep thoughts, the better to converse 190<br>With solitude, till, far from track of men,<br>Thought following thought, and step by step led on,<br>He entered now the bordering Desert wild,<br>And, with dark shades and rocks environed round,<br>His holy meditations thus pursued:--<br> "O what a multitude of thoughts at once<br>Awakened in me swarm, while I consider<br>What from within I feel myself, and hear<br>What from without comes often to my ears,<br>Ill sorting with my present state compared! 200<br>When I was yet a child, no childish play<br>To me was pleasing; all my mind was set<br>Serious to learn and know, and thence to do,<br>What might be public good; myself I thought<br>Born to that end, born to promote all truth,<br>All righteous things. Therefore, above my years,<br>The Law of God I read, and found it sweet;<br>Made it my whole delight, and in it grew<br>To such perfection that, ere yet my age<br>Had measured twice six years, at our great Feast 210<br>I went into the Temple, there to hear<br>The teachers of our Law, and to propose<br>What might improve my knowledge or their own,<br>And was admired by all. Yet this not all<br>To which my spirit aspired. Victorious deeds<br>Flamed in my heart, heroic acts--one while<br>To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke;<br>Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth,<br>Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,<br>Till truth were freed, and equity restored: 220<br>Yet held it more humane, more heavenly, first<br>By winning words to conquer willing hearts,<br>And make persuasion do the work of fear;<br>At least to try, and teach the erring soul,<br>Not wilfully misdoing, but unware<br>Misled; the stubborn only to subdue.<br>These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving,<br>By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced,<br>And said to me apart, 'High are thy thoughts,<br>O Son! but nourish them, and let them soar 230<br>To what highth sacred virtue and true worth<br>Can raise them, though above example high;<br>By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire.<br>For know, thou art no son of mortal man;<br>Though men esteem thee low of parentage,<br>Thy Father is the Eternal King who rules<br>All Heaven and Earth, Angels and sons of men.<br>A messenger from God foretold thy birth<br>Conceived in me a virgin; he foretold<br>Thou shouldst be great, and sit on David's throne, 240<br>And of thy kingdom there should be no end.<br>At thy nativity a glorious quire<br>Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung<br>To shepherds, watching at their folds by night,<br>And told them the Messiah now was born,<br>Where they might see him; and to thee they came,<br>Directed to the manger where thou lay'st;<br>For in the inn was left no better room.<br>A Star, not seen before, in heaven appearing,<br>Guided the Wise Men thither from the East, 250<br>To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and gold;<br>By whose bright course led on they found the place,<br>Affirming it thy star, new-graven in heaven,<br>By which they knew thee King of Israel born.<br>Just Simeon and prophetic Anna, warned<br>By vision, found thee in the Temple, and spake,<br>Before the altar and the vested priest,<br>Like things of thee to all that present stood.'<br>This having heart, straight I again revolved<br>The Law and Prophets, searching what was writ 260<br>Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes<br>Known partly, and soon found of whom they spake<br>I am--this chiefly, that my way must lie<br>Through many a hard assay, even to the death,<br>Ere I the promised kingdom can attain,<br>Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins'<br>Full weight must be transferred upon my head.<br>Yet, neither thus disheartened or dismayed,<br>The time prefixed I waited; when behold<br>The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard, 270<br>Not knew by sight) now come, who was to come<br>Before Messiah, and his way prepare!<br>I, as all others, to his baptism came,<br>Which I believed was from above; but he<br>Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed<br>Me him (for it was shewn him so from Heaven)--<br>Me him whose harbinger he was; and first<br>Refused on me his baptism to confer,<br>As much his greater, and was hardly won.<br>But, as I rose out of the laving stream, 280<br>Heaven opened her eternal doors, from whence<br>The Spirit descended on me like a Dove;<br>And last, the sum of all, my Father's voice,<br>Audibly heard from Heaven, pronounced me his,<br>Me his beloved Son, in whom alone<br>He was well pleased: by which I knew the time<br>Now full, that I no more should live obscure,<br>But openly begin, as best becomes<br>The authority which I derived from Heaven.<br>And now by some strong motion I am led 290<br>Into this wilderness; to what intent<br>I learn not yet. Perhaps I need not know;<br>For what concerns my knowledge God reveals."<br> So spake our Morning Star, then in his rise,<br>And, looking round, on every side beheld<br>A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.<br>The way he came, not having marked return,<br>Was difficult, by human steps untrod;<br>And he still on was led, but with such thoughts<br>Accompanied of things past and to come 300<br>Lodged in his breast as well might recommend<br>Such solitude before choicest society.<br> Full forty days he passed--whether on hill<br>Sometimes, anon in shady vale, each night<br>Under the covert of some ancient oak<br>Or cedar to defend him from the dew,<br>Or harboured in one cave, is not revealed;<br>Nor tasted human food, nor hunger felt,<br>Till those days ended; hungered then at last<br>Among wild beasts. They at his sight grew mild, 310<br>Nor sleeping him nor waking harmed; his walk<br>The fiery serpent fled and noxious worm;<br>The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.<br>But now an aged man in rural weeds,<br>Following, as seemed, the quest of some stray eye,<br>Or withered sticks to gather, which might serve<br>Against a winter's day, when winds blow keen,<br>To warm him wet returned from field at eve,<br>He saw approach; who first with curious eye<br>Perused him, then with words thus uttered spake:-- 320<br> "Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place,<br>So far from path or road of men, who pass<br>In troop or caravan? for single none<br>Durst ever, who returned, and dropt not here<br>His carcass, pined with hunger and with droughth.<br>I ask the rather, and the more admire,<br>For that to me thou seem'st the man whom late<br>Our new baptizing Prophet at the ford<br>Of Jordan honoured so, and called thee Son<br>Of God. I saw and heard, for we sometimes 330<br>Who dwell this wild, constrained by want, come forth<br>To town or village nigh (nighest is far),<br>Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear,<br>What happens new; fame also finds us out."<br> To whom the Son of God:--"Who brought me hither<br>Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek."<br> "By miracle he may," replied the swain;<br>"What other way I see not; for we here<br>Live on tough roots and stubs, to thirst inured<br>More than the camel, and to drink go far-- 340<br>Men to much misery and hardship born.<br>But, if thou be the Son of God, command<br>That out of these hard stones be made thee bread;<br>So shalt thou save thyself, and us relieve<br>With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste."<br> He ended, and the Son of God replied:--<br>"Think'st thou such force in bread? Is it not written<br>(For I discern thee other than thou seem'st),<br>Man lives not by bread only, but each word<br>Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed 350<br>Our fathers here with manna? In the Mount<br>Moses was forty days, nor eat nor drank;<br>And forty days Eliah without food<br>Wandered this barren waste; the same I now.<br>Why dost thou, then, suggest to me distrust<br>Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"<br> Whom thus answered the Arch-Fiend, now undisguised:--<br>"'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate<br>Who, leagued with millions more in rash revolt,<br>Kept not my happy station, but was driven 360<br>With them from bliss to the bottomless Deep--<br>Yet to that hideous place not so confined<br>By rigour unconniving but that oft,<br>Leaving my dolorous prison, I enjoy<br>Large liberty to round this globe of Earth,<br>Or range in the Air; nor from the Heaven of Heavens<br>Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.<br>I came, among the Sons of God, when he<br>Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job,<br>To prove him, and illustrate his high worth; 370<br>And, when to all his Angels he proposed<br>To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud,<br>That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,<br>I undertook that office, and the tongues<br>Of all his flattering prophets glibbed with lies<br>To his destruction, as I had in charge:<br>For what he bids I do. Though I have lost<br>Much lustre of my native brightness, lost<br>To be beloved of God, I have not lost<br>To love, at least contemplate and admire, 380<br>What I see excellent in good, or fair,<br>Or virtuous; I should so have lost all sense.<br>What can be then less in me than desire<br>To see thee and approach thee, whom I know<br>Declared the Son of God, to hear attent<br>Thy wisdom, and behold thy godlike deeds?<br>Men generally think me much a foe<br>To all mankind. Why should I? they to me<br>Never did wrong or violence. By them<br>I lost not what I lost; rather by them 390<br>I gained what I have gained, and with them dwell<br>Copartner in these regions of the World,<br>If not disposer--lend them oft my aid,<br>Oft my advice by presages and signs,<br>And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,<br>Whereby they may direct their future life.<br>Envy, they say, excites me, thus to gain<br>Companions of my misery and woe!<br>At first it may be; but, long since with woe<br>Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof 400<br>That fellowship in pain divides not smart,<br>Nor lightens aught each man's peculiar load;<br>Small consolation, then, were Man adjoined.<br>This wounds me most (what can it less?) that Man,<br>Man fallen, shall be restored, I never more."<br> To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied:--<br>"Deservedly thou griev'st, composed of lies<br>From the beginning, and in lies wilt end,<br>Who boast'st release from Hell, and leave to come<br>Into the Heaven of Heavens. Thou com'st, indeed, 410<br>As a poor miserable captive thrall<br>Comes to the place where he before had sat<br>Among the prime in splendour, now deposed,<br>Ejected, emptied, gazed, unpitied, shunned,<br>A spectacle of ruin, or of scorn,<br>To all the host of Heaven. The happy place<br>Imparts to thee no happiness, no joy--<br>Rather inflames thy torment, representing<br>Lost bliss, to thee no more communicable;<br>So never more in Hell than when in Heaven. 420<br>But thou art serviceable to Heaven's King!<br>Wilt thou impute to obedience what thy fear<br>Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites?<br>What but thy malice moved thee to misdeem<br>Of righteous Job, then cruelly to afflict him<br>With all inflictions? but his patience won.<br>The other service was thy chosen task,<br>To be a liar in four hundred mouths;<br>For lying is thy sustenance, thy food.<br>Yet thou pretend'st to truth! all oracles 430<br>By thee are given, and what confessed more true<br>Among the nations? That hath been thy craft,<br>By mixing somewhat true to vent more lies.<br>But what have been thy answers? what but dark,<br>Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding,<br>Which they who asked have seldom understood,<br>And, not well understood, as good not known?<br>Who ever, by consulting at thy shrine,<br>Returned the wiser, or the more instruct<br>To fly or follow what concerned him most, 440<br>And run not sooner to his fatal snare?<br>For God hath justly given the nations up<br>To thy delusions; justly, since they fell<br>Idolatrous. But, when his purpose is<br>Among them to declare his providence,<br>To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth,<br>But from him, or his Angels president<br>In every province, who, themselves disdaining<br>To approach thy temples, give thee in command<br>What, to the smallest tittle, thou shalt say 450<br>To thy adorers? Thou, with trembling fear,<br>Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st;<br>Then to thyself ascrib'st the truth foretold.<br>But this thy glory shall be soon retrenched;<br>No more shalt thou by oracling abuse<br>The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceased,<br>And thou no more with pomp and sacrifice<br>Shalt be enquired at Delphos or elsewhere--<br>At least in vain, for they shall find thee mute.<br>God hath now sent his living Oracle 460<br>Into the world to teach his final will,<br>And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell<br>In pious hearts, an inward oracle<br>To all truth requisite for men to know."<br> So spake our Saviour; but the subtle Fiend,<br>Though inly stung with anger and disdain,<br>Dissembled, and this answer smooth returned:--<br> "Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke,<br>And urged me hard with doings which not will,<br>But misery, hath wrested from me. Where 470<br>Easily canst thou find one miserable,<br>And not inforced oft-times to part from truth,<br>If it may stand him more in stead to lie,<br>Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure?<br>But thou art placed above me; thou art Lord;<br>From thee I can, and must, submiss, endure<br>Cheek or reproof, and glad to scape so quit.<br>Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk,<br>Smooth on the tongue discoursed, pleasing to the ear,<br>And tunable as sylvan pipe or song; 480<br>What wonder, then, if I delight to hear<br>Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire<br>Virtue who follow not her lore. Permit me<br>To hear thee when I come (since no man comes),<br>And talk at least, though I despair to attain.<br>Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure,<br>Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest<br>To tread his sacred courts, and minister<br>About his altar, handling holy things,<br>Praying or vowing, and voutsafed his voice 490<br>To Balaam reprobate, a prophet yet<br>Inspired: disdain not such access to me."<br> To whom our Saviour, with unaltered brow:--<br>"Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,<br>I bid not, or forbid. Do as thou find'st<br>Permission from above; thou canst not more."<br> He added not; and Satan, bowling low<br>His gray dissimulation, disappeared,<br>Into thin air diffused: for now began<br>Night with her sullen wing to double-shade 500<br>The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couched;<br>And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>THE SECOND BOOK</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">MEANWHILE the new-baptized, who yet remained<br>At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen<br>Him whom they heard so late expressly called<br>Jesus Messiah, Son of God, declared,<br>And on that high authority had believed,<br>And with him talked, and with him lodged--I mean<br>Andrew and Simon, famous after known,<br>With others, though in Holy Writ not named--<br>Now missing him, their joy so lately found,<br>So lately found and so abruptly gone, 10<br>Began to doubt, and doubted many days,<br>And, as the days increased, increased their doubt.<br>Sometimes they thought he might be only shewn,<br>And for a time caught up to God, as once<br>Moses was in the Mount and missing long,<br>And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels<br>Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to come.<br>Therefore, as those young prophets then with care<br>Sought lost Eliah, so in each place these<br>Nigh to Bethabara--in Jericho 20<br>The city of palms, AEnon, and Salem old,<br>Machaerus, and each town or city walled<br>On this side the broad lake Genezaret,<br>Or in Peraea--but returned in vain.<br>Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,<br>Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play,<br>Plain fishermen (no greater men them call),<br>Close in a cottage low together got,<br>Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreathed:--<br> "Alas, from what high hope to what relapse 30<br>Unlooked for are we fallen! Our eyes beheld<br>Messiah certainly now come, so long<br>Expected of our fathers; we have heard<br>His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.<br>'Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand;<br>The kingdom shall to Israel be restored:'<br>Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned<br>Into perplexity and new amaze.<br>For whither is he gone? what accident<br>Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire 40<br>After appearance, and again prolong<br>Our expectation? God of Israel,<br>Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come.<br>Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress<br>Thy Chosen, to what highth their power unjust<br>They have exalted, and behind them cast<br>All fear of Thee; arise, and vindicate<br>Thy glory; free thy people from their yoke!<br>But let us wait; thus far He hath performed--<br>Sent his Anointed, and to us revealed him 50<br>By his great Prophet pointed at and shown<br>In public, and with him we have conversed.<br>Let us be glad of this, and all our fears<br>Lay on his providence; He will not fail,<br>Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall--<br>Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence:<br>Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return."<br> Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume<br>To find whom at the first they found unsought.<br>But to his mother Mary, when she saw 60<br>Others returned from baptism, not her Son,<br>Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none,<br>Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,<br>Motherly cares and fears got head, and raised<br>Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad:--<br> "Oh, what avails me now that honour high,<br>To have conceived of God, or that salute,<br>'Hail, highly favoured, among women blest!'<br>While I to sorrows am no less advanced,<br>And fears as eminent above the lot 70<br>Of other women, by the birth I bore:<br>In such a season born, when scarce a shed<br>Could be obtained to shelter him or me<br>From the bleak air? A stable was our warmth,<br>A manger his; yet soon enforced to fly<br>Thence into Egypt, till the murderous king<br>Were dead, who sought his life, and, missing, filled<br>With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem.<br>From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth<br>Hath been our dwelling many years; his life 80<br>Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,<br>Little suspicious to any king. But now,<br>Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I hear,<br>By John the Baptist, and in public shewn,<br>Son owned from Heaven by his Father's voice,<br>I looked for some great change. To honour? no;<br>But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,<br>That to the fall and rising he should be<br>Of many in Israel, and to a sign<br>Spoken against--that through my very soul 90<br>A sword shall pierce. This is my favoured lot,<br>My exaltation to afflictions high!<br>Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest!<br>I will not argue that, nor will repine.<br>But where delays he now? Some great intent<br>Conceals him. When twelve years he scarce had seen,<br>I lost him, but so found as well I saw<br>He could not lose himself, but went about<br>His Father's business. What he meant I mused--<br>Since understand; much more his absence now 100<br>Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.<br>But I to wait with patience am inured;<br>My heart hath been a storehouse long of things<br>And sayings laid up, pretending strange events."<br> Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind<br>Recalling what remarkably had passed<br>Since first her Salutation heard, with thoughts<br>Meekly composed awaited the fulfilling:<br>The while her Son, tracing the desert wild,<br>Sole, but with holiest meditations fed, 110<br>Into himself descended, and at once<br>All his great work to come before him set--<br>How to begin, how to accomplish best<br>His end of being on Earth, and mission high.<br>For Satan, with sly preface to return,<br>Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone<br>Up to the middle region of thick air,<br>Where all his Potentates in council sate.<br>There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy,<br>Solicitous and blank, he thus began:-- 120<br> "Princes, Heaven's ancient Sons, AEthereal Thrones--<br>Daemonian Spirits now, from the element<br>Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called<br>Powers of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth beneath<br>(So may we hold our place and these mild seats<br>Without new trouble!)--such an enemy<br>Is risen to invade us, who no less<br>Threatens than our expulsion down to Hell.<br>I, as I undertook, and with the vote<br>Consenting in full frequence was impowered, 130<br>Have found him, viewed him, tasted him; but find<br>Far other labour to be undergone<br>Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men,<br>Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell,<br>However to this Man inferior far--<br>If he be Man by mother's side, at least<br>With more than human gifts from Heaven adorned,<br>Perfections absolute, graces divine,<br>And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.<br>Therefore I am returned, lest confidence 140<br>Of my success with Eve in Paradise<br>Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure<br>Of like succeeding here. I summon all<br>Rather to be in readiness with hand<br>Or counsel to assist, lest I, who erst<br>Thought none my equal, now be overmatched."<br> So spake the old Serpent, doubting, and from all<br>With clamour was assured their utmost aid<br>At his command; when from amidst them rose<br>Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell, 150<br>The sensualest, and, after Asmodai,<br>The fleshliest Incubus, and thus advised:--<br> "Set women in his eye and in his walk,<br>Among daughters of men the fairest found.<br>Many are in each region passing fair<br>As the noon sky, more like to goddesses<br>Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,<br>Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues<br>Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild<br>And sweet allayed, yet terrible to approach, 160<br>Skilled to retire, and in retiring draw<br>Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets.<br>Such object hath the power to soften and tame<br>Severest temper, smooth the rugged'st brow,<br>Enerve, and with voluptuous hope dissolve,<br>Draw out with credulous desire, and lead<br>At will the manliest, resolutest breast,<br>As the magnetic hardest iron draws.<br>Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart<br>Of wisest Solomon, and made him build, 170<br>And made him bow, to the gods of his wives."<br> To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:--<br>"Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st<br>All others by thyself. Because of old<br>Thou thyself doat'st on womankind, admiring<br>Their shape, their colour, and attractive grace,<br>None are, thou think'st, but taken with such toys.<br>Before the Flood, thou, with thy lusty crew,<br>False titled Sons of God, roaming the Earth,<br>Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men, 180<br>And coupled with them, and begot a race.<br>Have we not seen, or by relation heard,<br>In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st,<br>In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side,<br>In valley or green meadow, to waylay<br>Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene,<br>Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa,<br>Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more<br>Too long--then lay'st thy scapes on names adored,<br>Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan, 190<br>Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan? But these haunts<br>Delight not all. Among the sons of men<br>How many have with a smile made small account<br>Of beauty and her lures, easily scorned<br>All her assaults, on worthier things intent!<br>Remember that Pellean conqueror,<br>A youth, how all the beauties of the East<br>He slightly viewed, and slightly overpassed;<br>How he surnamed of Africa dismissed,<br>In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid. 200<br>For Solomon, he lived at ease, and, full<br>Of honour, wealth, high fare, aimed not beyond<br>Higher design than to enjoy his state;<br>Thence to the bait of women lay exposed.<br>But he whom we attempt is wiser far<br>Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,<br>Made and set wholly on the accomplishment<br>Of greatest things. What woman will you find,<br>Though of this age the wonder and the fame,<br>On whom his leisure will voutsafe an eye 210<br>Of fond desire? Or should she, confident,<br>As sitting queen adored on Beauty's throne,<br>Descend with all her winning charms begirt<br>To enamour, as the zone of Venus once<br>Wrought that effect on Jove (so fables tell),<br>How would one look from his majestic brow,<br>Seated as on the top of Virtue's hill,<br>Discountenance her despised, and put to rout<br>All her array, her female pride deject,<br>Or turn to reverent awe! For Beauty stands 220<br>In the admiration only of weak minds<br>Led captive; cease to admire, and all her plumes<br>Fall flat, and shrink into a trivial toy,<br>At every sudden slighting quite abashed.<br>Therefore with manlier objects we must try<br>His constancy--with such as have more shew<br>Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise<br>(Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked);<br>Or that which only seems to satisfy<br>Lawful desires of nature, not beyond. 230<br>And now I know he hungers, where no food<br>Is to be found, in the wide Wilderness:<br>The rest commit to me; I shall let pass<br>No advantage, and his strength as oft assay."<br> He ceased, and heard their grant in loud acclaim;<br>Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band<br>Of Spirits likest to himself in guile,<br>To be at hand and at his beck appear,<br>If cause were to unfold some active scene<br>Of various persons, each to know his part; 240<br>Then to the desert takes with these his flight,<br>Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God,<br>After forty days' fasting, had remained,<br>Now hungering first, and to himself thus said:--<br> "Where will this end? Four times ten days I have passed<br>Wandering this woody maze, and human food<br>Nor tasted, nor had appetite. That fast<br>To virtue I impute not, or count part<br>Of what I suffer here. If nature need not,<br>Or God support nature without repast, 250<br>Though needing, what praise is it to endure?<br>But now I feel I hunger; which declares<br>Nature hath need of what she asks. Yet God<br>Can satisfy that need some other way,<br>Though hunger still remain. So it remain<br>Without this body's wasting, I content me,<br>And from the sting of famine fear no harm;<br>Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed<br>Me hungering more to do my Father's will."<br> It was the hour of night, when thus the Son 260<br>Communed in silent walk, then laid him down<br>Under the hospitable covert nigh<br>Of trees thick interwoven. There he slept,<br>And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,<br>Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet.<br>Him thought he by the brook of Cherith stood,<br>And saw the ravens with their horny beaks<br>Food to Elijah bringing even and morn--<br>Though ravenous, taught to abstain from what they brought;<br>He saw the Prophet also, how he fled 270<br>Into the desert, and how there he slept<br>Under a juniper--then how, awaked,<br>He found his supper on the coals prepared,<br>And by the Angel was bid rise and eat,<br>And eat the second time after repose,<br>The strength whereof sufficed him forty days:<br>Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,<br>Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.<br>Thus wore out night; and now the harald Lark<br>Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry 280<br>The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song.<br>As lightly from his grassy couch up rose<br>Our Saviour, and found all was but a dream;<br>Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.<br>Up to a hill anon his steps he reared,<br>From whose high top to ken the prospect round,<br>If cottage were in view, sheep-cote, or herd;<br>But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote, none he saw--<br>Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,<br>With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud. 290<br>Thither he bent his way, determined there<br>To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade<br>High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,<br>That opened in the midst a woody scene;<br>Nature's own work it seemed (Nature taught Art),<br>And, to a superstitious eye, the haunt<br>Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs. He viewed it round;<br>When suddenly a man before him stood,<br>Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,<br>As one in city or court or palace bred, 300<br>And with fair speech these words to him addressed:--<br> "With granted leave officious I return,<br>But much more wonder that the Son of God<br>In this wild solitude so long should bide,<br>Of all things destitute, and, well I know,<br>Not without hunger. Others of some note,<br>As story tells, have trod this wilderness:<br>The fugitive Bond-woman, with her son,<br>Outcast Nebaioth, yet found here relief<br>By a providing Angel; all the race 310<br>Of Israel here had famished, had not God<br>Rained from heaven manna; and that Prophet bold,<br>Native of Thebez, wandering here, was fed<br>Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.<br>Of thee those forty days none hath regard,<br>Forty and more deserted here indeed."<br> To whom thus Jesus:--"What conclud'st thou hence?<br>They all had need; I, as thou seest, have none."<br> "How hast thou hunger then?" Satan replied.<br>"Tell me, if food were now before thee set, 320<br>Wouldst thou not eat?" "Thereafter as I like<br>the giver," answered Jesus. "Why should that<br>Cause thy refusal?" said the subtle Fiend.<br>"Hast thou not right to all created things?<br>Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee<br>Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,<br>But tender all their power? Nor mention I<br>Meats by the law unclean, or offered first<br>To idols--those young Daniel could refuse;<br>Nor proffered by an enemy--though who 330<br>Would scruple that, with want oppressed? Behold,<br>Nature ashamed, or, better to express,<br>Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath purveyed<br>From all the elements her choicest store,<br>To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord<br>With honour. Only deign to sit and eat."<br> He spake no dream; for, as his words had end,<br>Our Saviour, lifting up his eyes, beheld,<br>In ample space under the broadest shade,<br>A table richly spread in regal mode, 340<br>With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort<br>And savour--beasts of chase, or fowl of game,<br>In pastry built, or from the spit, or boiled,<br>Grisamber-steamed; all fish, from sea or shore,<br>Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,<br>And exquisitest name, for which was drained<br>Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.<br>Alas! how simple, to these cates compared,<br>Was that crude Apple that diverted Eve!<br>And at a stately sideboard, by the wine, 350<br>That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood<br>Tall stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue<br>Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more,<br>Under the trees now tripped, now solemn stood,<br>Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades<br>With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,<br>And ladies of the Hesperides, that seemed<br>Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since<br>Of faery damsels met in forest wide<br>By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, 360<br>Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.<br>And all the while harmonious airs were heard<br>Of chiming strings or charming pipes; and winds<br>Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned<br>From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.<br>Such was the splendour; and the Tempter now<br>His invitation earnestly renewed:--<br> "What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?<br>These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict<br>Defends the touching of these viands pure; 370<br>Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,<br>But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,<br>Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.<br>All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and springs,<br>Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay<br>Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord.<br>What doubt'st thou, Son of God? Sit down and eat."<br> To whom thus Jesus temperately replied:--<br>"Said'st thou not that to all things I had right?<br>And who withholds my power that right to use? 380<br>Shall I receive by gift what of my own,<br>When and where likes me best, I can command?<br>I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,<br>Command a table in this wilderness,<br>And call swift flights of Angels ministrant,<br>Arrayed in glory, on my cup to attend:<br>Why shouldst thou, then, obtrude this diligence<br>In vain, where no acceptance it can find?<br>And with my hunger what hast thou to do?<br>Thy pompous delicacies I contemn, 390<br>And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles."<br> To whom thus answered Satan, male-content:--<br>"That I have also power to give thou seest;<br>If of that power I bring thee voluntary<br>What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,<br>And rather opportunely in this place<br>Chose to impart to thy apparent need,<br>Why shouldst thou not accept it? But I see<br>What I can do or offer is suspect.<br>Of these things others quickly will dispose, 400<br>Whose pains have earned the far-fet spoil." With that<br>Both table and provision vanished quite,<br>With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard;<br>Only the importune Tempter still remained,<br>And with these words his temptation pursued:--<br> "By hunger, that each other creature tames,<br>Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved;<br>Thy temperance, invincible besides,<br>For no allurement yields to appetite;<br>And all thy heart is set on high designs, 410<br>High actions. But wherewith to be achieved?<br>Great acts require great means of enterprise;<br>Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,<br>A carpenter thy father known, thyself<br>Bred up in poverty and straits at home,<br>Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit.<br>Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire<br>To greatness? whence authority deriv'st?<br>What followers, what retinue canst thou gain,<br>Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude, 420<br>Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?<br>Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms.<br>What raised Antipater the Edomite,<br>And his son Herod placed on Juda's throne,<br>Thy throne, but gold, that got him puissant friends?<br>Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,<br>Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap--<br>Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.<br>Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;<br>They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, 430<br>While virtue, valour, wisdom, sit in want."<br> To whom thus Jesus patiently replied:--<br>"Yet wealth without these three is impotent<br>To gain dominion, or to keep it gained--<br>Witness those ancient empires of the earth,<br>In highth of all their flowing wealth dissolved;<br>But men endued with these have oft attained,<br>In lowest poverty, to highest deeds--<br>Gideon, and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad<br>Whose offspring on the throne of Juda sate 440<br>So many ages, and shall yet regain<br>That seat, and reign in Israel without end.<br>Among the Heathen (for throughout the world<br>To me is not unknown what hath been done<br>Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember<br>Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?<br>For I esteem those names of men so poor,<br>Who could do mighty things, and could contemn<br>Riches, though offered from the hand of kings.<br>And what in me seems wanting but that I 450<br>May also in this poverty as soon<br>Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?<br>Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools,<br>The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare; more apt<br>To slacken virtue and abate her edge<br>Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise.<br>What if with like aversion I reject<br>Riches and realms! Yet not for that a crown,<br>Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns,<br>Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, 460<br>To him who wears the regal diadem,<br>When on his shoulders each man's burden lies;<br>For therein stands the office of a king,<br>His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise,<br>That for the public all this weight he bears.<br>Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules<br>Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king--<br>Which every wise and virtuous man attains;<br>And who attains not, ill aspires to rule<br>Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes, 470<br>Subject himself to anarchy within,<br>Or lawless passions in him, which he serves.<br>But to guide nations in the way of truth<br>By saving doctrine, and from error lead<br>To know, and, knowing, worship God aright,<br>Is yet more kingly. This attracts the soul,<br>Governs the inner man, the nobler part;<br>That other o'er the body only reigns,<br>And oft by force--which to a generous mind<br>So reigning can be no sincere delight. 480<br>Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought<br>Greater and nobler done, and to lay down<br>Far more magnanimous, than to assume.<br>Riches are needless, then, both for themselves,<br>And for thy reason why they should be sought--<br>To gain a sceptre, oftest better missed."</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>THE THIRD BOOK</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=421431" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">SO spake the Son of God; and Satan stood<br>A while as mute, confounded what to say,<br>What to reply, confuted and convinced<br>Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift;<br>At length, collecting all his serpent wiles,<br>With soothing words renewed, him thus accosts:--<br> "I see thou know'st what is of use to know,<br>What best to say canst say, to do canst do;<br>Thy actions to thy words accord; thy words<br>To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart 10<br>Contains of good, wise, just, the perfet shape.<br>Should kings and nations from thy mouth consult,<br>Thy counsel would be as the oracle<br>Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems<br>On Aaron's breast, or tongue of Seers old<br>Infallible; or, wert thou sought to deeds<br>That might require the array of war, thy skill<br>Of conduct would be such that all the world<br>Could not sustain thy prowess, or subsist<br>In battle, though against thy few in arms. 20<br>These godlike virtues wherefore dost thou hide?<br>Affecting private life, or more obscure<br>In savage wilderness, wherefore deprive<br>All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself<br>The fame and glory--glory, the reward<br>That sole excites to high attempts the flame<br>Of most erected spirits, most tempered pure<br>AEthereal, who all pleasures else despise,<br>All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,<br>And dignities and powers, all but the highest? 30<br>Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe. The son<br>Of Macedonian Philip had ere these<br>Won Asia, and the throne of Cyrus held<br>At his dispose; young Scipio had brought down<br>The Carthaginian pride; young Pompey quelled<br>The Pontic king, and in triumph had rode.<br>Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,<br>Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.<br>Great Julius, whom now all the world admires,<br>The more he grew in years, the more inflamed 40<br>With glory, wept that he had lived so long<br>Ingloroious. But thou yet art not too late."<br> To whom our Saviour calmly thus replied:--<br>"Thou neither dost persuade me to seek wealth<br>For empire's sake, nor empire to affect<br>For glory's sake, by all thy argument.<br>For what is glory but the blaze of fame,<br>The people's praise, if always praise unmixed?<br>And what the people but a herd confused,<br>A miscellaneous rabble, who extol 50<br>Things vulgar, and, well weighed, scarce worth the praise?<br>They praise and they admire they know not what,<br>And know not whom, but as one leads the other;<br>And what delight to be by such extolled,<br>To live upon their tongues, and be their talk?<br>Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise--<br>His lot who dares be singularly good.<br>The intelligent among them and the wise<br>Are few, and glory scarce of few is raised.<br>This is true glory and renown--when God, 60<br>Looking on the Earth, with approbation marks<br>The just man, and divulges him through Heaven<br>To all his Angels, who with true applause<br>Recount his praises. Thus he did to Job,<br>When, to extend his fame through Heaven and Earth,<br>As thou to thy reproach may'st well remember,<br>He asked thee, 'Hast thou seen my servant Job?'<br>Famous he was in Heaven; on Earth less known,<br>Where glory is false glory, attributed<br>To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame. 70<br>They err who count it glorious to subdue<br>By conquest far and wide, to overrun<br>Large countries, and in field great battles win,<br>Great cities by assault. What do these worthies<br>But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave<br>Peaceable nations, neighbouring or remote,<br>Made captive, yet deserving freedom more<br>Than those their conquerors, who leave behind<br>Nothing but ruin wheresoe'er they rove,<br>And all the flourishing works of peace destroy; 80<br>Then swell with pride, and must be titled Gods,<br>Great benefactors of mankind, Deliverers,<br>Worshipped with temple, priest, and sacrifice?<br>One is the son of Jove, of Mars the other;<br>Till conqueror Death discover them scarce men,<br>Rowling in brutish vices, and deformed,<br>Violent or shameful death their due reward.<br>But, if there be in glory aught of good;<br>It may be means far different be attained,<br>Without ambition, war, or violence-- 90<br>By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,<br>By patience, temperance. I mention still<br>Him whom thy wrongs, with saintly patience borne,<br>Made famous in a land and times obscure;<br>Who names not now with honour patient Job?<br>Poor Socrates, (who next more memorable?)<br>By what he taught and suffered for so doing,<br>For truth's sake suffering death unjust, lives now<br>Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.<br>Yet, if for fame and glory aught be done, 100<br>Aught suffered--if young African for fame<br>His wasted country freed from Punic rage--<br>The deed becomes unpraised, the man at least,<br>And loses, though but verbal, his reward.<br>Shall I seek glory, then, as vain men seek,<br>Oft not deserved? I seek not mine, but His<br>Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am."<br> To whom the Tempter, murmuring, thus replied:--<br>"Think not so slight of glory, therein least<br>Resembling thy great Father. He seeks glory, 110<br>And for his glory all things made, all things<br>Orders and governs; nor content in Heaven,<br>By all his Angels glorified, requires<br>Glory from men, from all men, good or bad,<br>Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption.<br>Above all sacrifice, or hallowed gift,<br>Glory he requires, and glory he receives,<br>Promiscuous from all nations, Jew, or Greek,<br>Or Barbarous, nor exception hath declared;<br>From us, his foes pronounced, glory he exacts." 120<br> To whom our Saviour fervently replied:<br>"And reason; since his Word all things produced,<br>Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,<br>But to shew forth his goodness, and impart<br>His good communicable to every soul<br>Freely; of whom what could He less expect<br>Than glory and benediction--that is, thanks--<br>The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense<br>From them who could return him nothing else,<br>And, not returning that, would likeliest render 130<br>Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?<br>Hard recompense, unsuitable return<br>For so much good, so much beneficience!<br>But why should man seek glory, who of his own<br>Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs<br>But condemnation, ignominy, and shame--<br>Who, for so many benefits received,<br>Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false,<br>And so of all true good himself despoiled;<br>Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take 140<br>That which to God alone of right belongs?<br>Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,<br>That who advances his glory, not their own,<br>Them he himself to glory will advance."<br> So spake the Son of God; and here again<br>Satan had not to answer, but stood struck<br>With guilt of his own sin--for he himself,<br>Insatiable of glory, had lost all;<br>Yet of another plea bethought him soon:--<br> "Of glory, as thou wilt," said he, "so deem; 150<br>Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass.<br>But to a Kingdom thou art born--ordained<br>To sit upon thy father David's throne,<br>By mother's side thy father, though thy right<br>Be now in powerful hands, that will not part<br>Easily from possession won with arms.<br>Judaea now and all the Promised Land,<br>Reduced a province under Roman yoke,<br>Obeys Tiberius, nor is always ruled<br>With temperate sway: oft have they violated 160<br>The Temple, oft the Law, with foul affronts,<br>Abominations rather, as did once<br>Antiochus. And think'st thou to regain<br>Thy right by sitting still, or thus retiring?<br>So did not Machabeus. He indeed<br>Retired unto the Desert, but with arms;<br>And o'er a mighty king so oft prevailed<br>That by strong hand his family obtained,<br>Though priests, the crown, and David's throne usurped,<br>With Modin and her suburbs once content. 170<br>If kingdom move thee not, let move thee zeal<br>And duty--zeal and duty are not slow,<br>But on Occasion's forelock watchful wait:<br>They themselves rather are occasion best--<br>Zeal of thy Father's house, duty to free<br>Thy country from her heathen servitude.<br>So shalt thou best fulfil, best verify,<br>The Prophets old, who sung thy endless reign--<br>The happier reign the sooner it begins.<br>Rein then; what canst thou better do the while?" 180<br> To whom our Saviour answer thus returned:--<br>"All things are best fulfilled in their due time;<br>And time there is for all things, Truth hath said.<br>If of my reign Prophetic Writ hath told<br>That it shall never end, so, when begin<br>The Father in his purpose hath decreed--<br>He in whose hand all times and seasons rowl.<br>What if he hath decreed that I shall first<br>Be tried in humble state, and things adverse,<br>By tribulations, injuries, insults, 190<br>Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,<br>Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting<br>Without distrust or doubt, that He may know<br>What I can suffer, how obey? Who best<br>Can suffer best can do, best reign who first<br>Well hath obeyed--just trial ere I merit<br>My exaltation without change or end.<br>But what concerns it thee when I begin<br>My everlasting Kingdom? Why art thou<br>Solicitous? What moves thy inquisition? 200<br>Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall,<br>And my promotion will be thy destruction?"<br> To whom the Tempter, inly racked, replied:--<br>"Let that come when it comes. All hope is lost<br>Of my reception into grace; what worse?<br>For where no hope is left is left no fear.<br>If there be worse, the expectation more<br>Of worse torments me than the feeling can.<br>I would be at the worst; worst is my port,<br>My harbour, and my ultimate repose, 210<br>The end I would attain, my final good.<br>My error was my error, and my crime<br>My crime; whatever, for itself condemned,<br>And will alike be punished, whether thou<br>Reign or reign not--though to that gentle brow<br>Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign,<br>From that placid aspect and meek regard,<br>Rather than aggravate my evil state,<br>Would stand between me and thy Father's ire<br>(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell) 220<br>A shelter and a kind of shading cool<br>Interposition, as a summer's cloud.<br>If I, then, to the worst that can be haste,<br>Why move thy feet so slow to what is best?<br>Happiest, both to thyself and all the world,<br>That thou, who worthiest art, shouldst be their King!<br>Perhaps thou linger'st in deep thoughts detained<br>Of the enterprise so hazardous and high!<br>No wonder; for, though in thee be united<br>What of perfection can in Man be found, 230<br>Or human nature can receive, consider<br>Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent<br>At home, scarce viewed the Galilean towns,<br>And once a year Jerusalem, few days'<br>Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou observe?<br>The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,<br>Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts--<br>Best school of best experience, quickest in sight<br>In all things that to greatest actions lead.<br>The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever 240<br>Timorous, and loth, with novice modesty<br>(As he who, seeking asses, found a kingdom)<br>Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous.<br>But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit<br>Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes<br>The monarchies of the Earth, their pomp and state--<br>Sufficient introduction to inform<br>Thee, of thyself so apt, in regal arts,<br>And regal mysteries; that thou may'st know<br>How best their opposition to withstand." 250<br> With that (such power was given him then), he took<br>The Son of God up to a mountain high.<br>It was a mountain at whose verdant feet<br>A spacious plain outstretched in circuit wide<br>Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowed,<br>The one winding, the other straight, and left between<br>Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined,<br>Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.<br>Fertil of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine;<br>With herds the pasture thronged, with flocks the hills; 260<br>Huge cities and high-towered, that well might seem<br>The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so large<br>The prospect was that here and there was room<br>For barren desert, fountainless and dry.<br>To this high mountain-top the Tempter brought<br>Our Saviour, and new train of words began:--<br> "Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and dale,<br>Forest, and field, and flood, temples and towers,<br>Cut shorter many a league. Here thou behold'st<br>Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds, 270<br>Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on<br>As far as Indus east, Euphrates west,<br>And oft beyond; to south the Persian bay,<br>And, inaccessible, the Arabian drouth:<br>Here, Nineveh, of length within her wall<br>Several days' journey, built by Ninus old,<br>Of that first golden monarchy the seat,<br>And seat of Salmanassar, whose success<br>Israel in long captivity still mourns;<br>There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, 280<br>As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice<br>Judah and all thy father David's house<br>Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,<br>Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis,<br>His city, there thou seest, and Bactra there;<br>Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,<br>And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates;<br>There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,<br>The drink of none but kings; of later fame,<br>Built by Emathian or by Parthian hands, 290<br>The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there<br>Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,<br>Turning with easy eye, thou may'st behold.<br>All these the Parthian (now some ages past<br>By great Arsaces led, who founded first<br>That empire) under his dominion holds,<br>From the luxurious kings of Antioch won.<br>And just in time thou com'st to have a view<br>Of his great power; for now the Parthian king<br>In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his host 300<br>Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild<br>Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid<br>He marches now in haste. See, though from far,<br>His thousands, in what martial equipage<br>They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms,<br>Of equal dread in flight or in pursuit--<br>All horsemen, in which fight they most excel;<br>See how in warlike muster they appear,<br>In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings."<br> He looked, and saw what numbers numberless 310<br>The city gates outpoured, light-armed troops<br>In coats of mail and military pride.<br>In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong,<br>Prauncing their riders bore, the flowe</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br/></a><a href="https://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="https://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=John+Milton">John Milton</a></strong></div>

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