The Complete Poems
Page 49
Under the trees now tripped, now solemn stood
355 Nymphs of Diana’s train, and Naiades
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea’s horn,
And ladies of th’ Hesperides, that seemed
Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since
Of fairy damsels met in forest wide
360 By knights of Logres, or of Lyonesse,
Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore;
And all the while harmonious airs were heard
Of chiming strings, or charming pipes, and winds
Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned
365 From their soft wings, and Flora’s earliest smells.
Such was the splendour, and the Tempter now
His invitation earnestly renewed.
What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?
These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict
370 Defends the touching of these viands pure;
Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,
But life preserves, destroys life’s enemy,
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.
All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and springs,
375 Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord:
What doubt’st thou Son of God? sit down and eat.
To whom thus Jesus temperately replied:
Said’st thou not that to all things I had right?
380 And who withholds my pow’r that right to use?
Shall I receive by gift what of my own,
When and where likes me best, I can command?
I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,
Command a table in this wilderness,
385 And call swift flights of angels ministrant
Arrayed in glory on my cup to attend:
Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence,
In vain, where no acceptance it can find,
And with my hunger what hast thou to do?
390 Thy pompous delicacies I contemn,
And count thy specious gifts no gifts but guiles.
To whom thus answered Satan malcontent:
That I have also power to give thou seest;
If of that pow’r I bring thee voluntary
395 What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,
And rather opportunely in this place
Chose to impart to thy apparent need,
Why shouldst thou not accept it? but I see
What I can do or offer is suspéct;
400 Of these things others quickly will dispose
Whose pains have earned the far-fet spoil. With that
Both table and provision vanished quite
With sound of Harpies’ wings, and talons heard;
Only the impórtune Tempter still remained,
405 And with these words his temptation pursued.
By hunger, that each other creature tames,
Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved;
Thy temperance invincible besides,
For no allurement yields to appetite,
410 And all thy heart is set on high designs,
High actions; but wherewith to be achieved?
Great acts require great means of enterprise;
Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,
A carpenter thy father known, thyself
415 Bred up in poverty and straits at home;
Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit:
Which way or from what hope dost thou aspire
To greatness? whence authority deriv’st,
What followers, what retínue canst thou gain,
420 Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,
Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms;
What raised Antipater the Edomite,
And his son Herod placed on Judah’s throne
425 (Thy throne) but gold that got him puissant friends?
Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,
Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap,
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me,
Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;
430 They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,
While virtue, valour, wisdom sit in want.
To whom thus Jesus patiently replied;
Yet wealth without these three is impotent,
To gain dominion or to keep it gained.
435 Witness those ancient empires of the earth,
In heighth of all their flowing wealth dissolved:
But men endued with these have oft attained
In lowest poverty to highest deeds;
Gideon and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad,
440 Whose offspring on the throne of Judah sat
So many ages, and shall yet regain
That seat, and reign in Israel without end.
Among the heathen, (for throughout the world
To me is not unknown what hath been done
445 Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember
Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?
For I esteem those names of men so poor
Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
Riches though offered from the hand of kings.
450 And what in me seems wanting, but that I
May also in this poverty as soon
Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?
Extol not riches then, the toil of fools,
The wise man’s cumbrance if not snare, more apt
455 To slacken virtue, and abate her edge,
Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise.
What if with like aversion I reject
Riches and realms; yet not for that a crown,
Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns,
460 Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights
To him who wears the regal diadem,
When on his shoulders each man’s burden lies;
For therein stands the office of a king,
His honour, virtue, merit and chief praise,
465 That for the public all this weight he bears.
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king;
Which every wise and virtuous man attains:
And who attains not, ill aspires to rule
470 Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,
Subject himself to anarchy within,
Or lawless passions in him which he serves.
But to guide nations in the way of truth
By saving doctrine, and from error lead
475 To know, and knowing worship God aright,
Is yet more kingly; this attracts the soul,
Governs the inner man, the nobler part,
That other o’er the body only reigns,
And oft by force, which to a generous mind
480 So reigning can be no sincere delight.
Besides to give a kingdom hath been thought
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
Far more magnanimous, than to assume.
Riches are needless then, both for themselves,
485 And for thy reason why they should be sought,
To gain a sceptre, oftest better missed.
THE THIRD BOOK
So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood
A while as mute, confounded what to say,
What to reply, confuted and convinced
Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift;
5 At length collecting all his Serpent wiles,
With soothing words renewed, him thus accosts.
I see thou know’st what is of use to know,
What best to say canst say, to do canst do;
Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words
10 To thy large heart give utterance due, thy heart
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Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape.
Should kings and nations from thy mouth consult,
Thy counsel would be as the oracle
Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems
15 On Aaron’s breast: or tongue of seers old
Infallible; or wert thou sought to deeds
That might require th’ array of war, thy skill
Of conduct would be such, that all the world
Could not sustain thy prowess, or subsist
20 In battle, though against thy few in arms.
These godlike virtues wherefore dost thou hide?
Affecting private life, or more obscure
In savage wilderness, wherefore deprive
All earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself
25 The fame and glory, glory the reward
That sole excites to high attempts the flame
Of most erected spirits, most tempered pure
Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise,
All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,
30 And dignities and powers, all but the highest?
Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe; the son
Of Macedonian Philip had ere these
Won Asia and the throne of Cyrus held
At his dispose, young Scipio had brought down
35 The Carthaginian pride, young Pompey quelled
The Pontic king and in triúmph had rode.
Yet years, and to ripe years judgement mature,
Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.
Great Julius, whom now all the world admires
40 The more he grew in years, the more inflamed
With glory, wept that he had lived so long
Inglorious: but thou yet art not too late.
To whom our Saviour calmly thus replied.
Thou neither dost persuade me to seek wealth
45 For empire’s sake, nor empire to affect
For glory’s sake by all thy argument.
For what is glory but the blaze of fame,
The people’s praise, if always praise unmixed?
And what the people but a herd confused,
50 A miscellaneous rabble, who extol
Things vulgar, and well weighed, scarce worth the praise?
They praise and they admire they know not what;
And know not whom, but as one leads the other;
And what delight to be by such extolled,
55 To live upon their tongues and be their talk,
Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise?
His lot who dares be singularly good.
Th’ intelligent among them and the wise
Are few, and glory scarce of few is raised.
60 This is true glory and renown, when God
Looking on the earth, with approbation marks
The just man, and divulges him through Heaven
To all his angels, who with true applause
Recount his praises; thus he did to Job,
65 When to extend his fame through Heaven and earth,
As thou to thy reproach may’st well remember,
He asked thee, hast thou seen my servant Job?
Famous he was in Heaven, on earth less known;
Where glory is false glory, áttribúted
70 To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame.
They err who count it glorious to subdue
By conquest far and wide, to overrun
Large countries, and in field great battles win,
Great cities by assault: what do these worthies,
75 But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave
Peaceable nations, neighbouring, or remote,
Made captive, yet deserving freedom more
Than those their conquerors, who leave behind
Nothing but ruin wheresoe’er they rove,
80 And all the flourishing works of peace destroy,
Then swell with pride, and must be titled gods,
Great benefactors of mankind, deliverers,
Worshipped with temple, priest and sacrifice;
One is the son of Jove, of Mars the other,
85 Till conqueror Death discover them scarce men,
Rolling in brutish vices, and deformed,
Violent or shameful death their due reward.
But if there be in glory aught of good,
It may by means far different be attained
90 Without ambition, war, or violence;
By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,
By patience, temperance; I mention still
Him whom thy wrongs with saintly patience borne,
Made famous in a land and times obscure;
95 Who names not now with honour patient Job?
Poor Socrates (who next more memorable?)
By what he taught and suffered for so doing,
For truth’s sake suffering death unjust, lives now
Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.
100 Yet if for fame and glory aught be done,
Aught suffered; if young African for fame
His wasted country freed from Punic rage,
The deed becomes unpraised, the man at least,
And loses, though but verbal, his reward.
105 Shall I seek glory then, as vain men seek
Oft not deserved? I seek not mine, but his
Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am.
To whom the Tempter murmuring thus replied.
Think not so slight of glory; therein least
110 Resembling thy great Father: he seeks glory,
And for his glory all things made, all things
Orders and governs, nor content in Heaven
By all his angels glorified, requires
Glory from men, from all men good or bad,
115 Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption;
Above all sacrifice, or hallowed gift
Glory he requires, and glory he receives
Promiscuous from all nations, Jew, or Greek,
Or barbarous, nor exception hath declared;
120 From us his foes pronounced glory he exacts.
To whom our Saviour fervently replied.
And reason; since his word all things produced,
Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,
But to show forth his goodness, and impart
125 His good communicable to every soul
Freely; of whom what could he less expect
Than glory and benediction, that is thanks,
The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense
From them who could return him nothing else,
130 And not returning that would likeliest render
Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?
Hard recompense, unsuitable return
For so much good, so much beneficence.
But why should man seek glory? who of his own
135 Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs
But condemnation, ignominy, and shame?
Who for so many benefits received
Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false,
And so of all true good himself despoiled,
140 Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take
That which to God alone of right belongs;
Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,
That who advance his glory, not their own,
Them he himself to glory will advance.
145 So spake the Son of God; and here again
Satan had not to answer, but stood struck
With guilt of his own sin, for he himself
Insatiable of glory had lost all,
Yet of another plea bethought him soon.
150 Of glory as thou wilt, said he, so deem,
Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass:
But to a kingdom thou art born, ordained
To sit upon thy father David’s throne;
By mother’s side thy fath
er, though thy right
155 Be now in powerful hands, that will not part
Easily from possession won with arms;
Judaea now and all the promised land
Reduced a province under Roman yoke,
Obeys Tiberius; nor is always ruled
160 With temperate sway; oft have they violated
The Temple, oft the Law with foul affronts,
Abominations rather, as did once
Antiochus: and think’st thou to regain
Thy right by sitting still or thus retiring?
165 So did not Maccabeus: he indeed
Retired unto the desert, but with arms;
And o’er a mighty king so oft prevailed,
That by strong hand his family obtained,
Though priests, the crown, and David’s throne usurped,
170 With Modin and her suburbs once content.
If kingdom move thee not, let move thee zeal,
And duty; zeal and duty are not slow;
But on Occasion’s forelock watchful wait.
They themselves rather are occasion best,
175 Zeal of thy father’s house, duty to free
Thy country from her heathen servitude;
So shalt thou best fulfil, best verify
The Prophets old, who sung thy endless reign,
The happier reign the sooner it begins;
180 Reign then; what canst thou better do the while?
To whom our Saviour answer thus returned.
All things are best fulfilled in their due time,
And time there is for all things, Truth hath said;
If of my reign prophetic writ hath told,
185 That it shall never end, so when begin
The Father in his purpose hath decreed,
He in whose hand all times and seasons roll.
What if he hath decreed that I shall first
Be tried in humble state, and things adverse,
190 By tribulations, injuries, insults,
Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,
Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting
Without distrust or doubt, that he may know
What I can suffer, how obey? who best
195 Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first
Well hath obeyed; just trial ere I merit
My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee when I begin
My everlasting kingdom, why art thou
200 Solicitous, what moves thy inquisition?
Know’st thou not that my rising is thy fall,
And my promotion will be thy destruction?
To whom the Tempter inly racked replied.
Let that come when it comes; all hope is lost
205 Of my reception into grace; what worse?
For where no hope is left, is left no fear;
If there be worse, the expectation more