The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems

by John Milton; Burton Raffel

  Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest

  To tread His sacred courts,6672 and minister6673

  About His altar, handling holy things,

  Praying or vowing, and vouchsafed His voice

  To Balaam,6674 reprobate,6675 a prophet yet6676

  Inspired. Disdain6677 not such access to me.”

  To whom our Savior, with unaltered brow:

  “Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,6678

  I bid not, or forbid. Do as thou find’st

  Permission from above. Thou canst not more.”

  He added not, and Satan, bowing low

  His gray dissimulation,6679 disappeared,

  Into thin air diffused. For now began

  Night with her sullen wing to double-shade

  The desert. Fowls in their clay 6680 nests were couched,6681

  And now wild beasts came forth, the woods to roam.

  BOOK II

  Meanwhile the new-baptized, who yet remained

  At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen

  Him whom they heard so late6682 expressly6683 called

  Jesus Messiah, Son of God declared,

  And on that high authority had believed,

  And with him talked, and with him lodged6684 —I mean

  Andrew6685 and Simon,6686 famous after 6687 known,

  With others, though in Holy Writ not named—

  Now missing him, their joy so lately found,

  So lately found and so abruptly gone,

  Began to doubt, and doubted many days,

  And as the days increased, increased their doubt.

  Sometimes they thought he might be only shown6688

  And for a time caught up6689 to God, as once

  Moses was in the mount and missing long,

  And the great Thisbite,6690 who on fiery wheels

  Rode up to Heav’n, yet once again to come.

  Therefore, as those young prophets then with care

  Sought lost Elijah, so in each place these

  Nigh to Bethabara6691 —in Jericho6692

  The city of palms, Aenon,6693 and Salem6694 old,

  Machaerus,6695 and each town or city walled

  On this side the broad lake Genezaret,6696

  Or in Peraea6697 —but returned in vain.

  Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,

  Where winds with reeds and osiers6698 whispering play,

  Plain fishermen (no greater, men them call),

  Close in a cottage low together got,

  Their unexpected loss and plaints6699 outbreathed:

  “Alas, from what high hope to what relapse

  Unlooked for are we fall’n! Our eyes beheld

  Messiah certainly now come, so long

  Expected of our fathers. We have heard

  His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.

  ‘Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand!

  The kingdom shall to Israel be restored!’

  Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned

  Into perplexity and new amaze.

  For whither is he gone? What accident

  Hath rapt6700 him from us? Will he now retire6701

  After appearance, and again prolong

  Our expectation? God of Israel,

  Send Thy Messiah forth. The time is come.

  Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress

  Thy chosen, to what height their pow’r unjust

  They have exalted, and behind them cast

  All fear of Thee. Arise, and vindicate6702

  Thy glory, free Thy people from their yoke!

  “But let us wait. Thus far He hath performed,6703

  Sent His anointed,6704 and to us revealed him

  By His great prophet pointed at and shown

  In public, and with him we have conversed.

  Let us be glad of this, and all our fears

  Lay on His providence.6705 He will not fail,

  Nor will withdraw him6706 now, nor will recall—

  Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.

  Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return.”

  Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume

  To find whom at the first they found unsought.

  But to his mother Mary, when she saw

  Others returned from baptism, not her son,

  Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none,

  Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,

  Motherly cares and fears got head,6707 and raised

  Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad:

  “Oh what avails me now, that honor high,

  To have conceived of God, or that salute,6708

  ‘Hail, highly favored, among women blest’?

  While I to sorrows am no less advanced,6709

  And fears as eminent6710 above the lot

  Of other women, by the birth I bore—

  In such a season born, when scarce a shed

  Could be obtained to shelter him or me

  From the bleak6711 air. A stable was our warmth,

  A manger his, yet soon enforced to fly

  Thence into Egypt, till the murd’rous king 6712

  Were dead, who sought his life and, missing,6713 filled

  With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem.

  From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth

  Hath been our dwelling many years, his life

  Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,

  Little suspicious to any king. But now,

  Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I hear,

  By John the Baptist, and in public shown,

  Son owned6714 from Heav’n by his Father’s voice,

  I looked for some great change. To honor? No,

  But trouble, as old Simeon6715 plain foretold,

  That to the fall and rising he should be

  Of many in Israel, and to a sign

  Spoken against—that through my very soul

  A sword shall pierce, this my favored lot,

  My exaltation to afflictions high!

  Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest!

  I will not argue that, nor will repine.6716

  “But where delays he now? Some great intent

  Conceals him. When twelve years he scarce had seen,

  I lost him, but so found as well I saw

  He could not lose himself, but went about

  His Father’s business. What he meant I mused,6717

  Since understand: much more his absence now

  Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.6718

  But I to wait with patience am inured,

  My heart hath been a storehouse long of things

  And sayings laid up, portending strange events.”

  Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind

  Recalling what remarkably6719 had passed

  Since first her salutation6720 heard, with thoughts

  Meekly composed awaited the fulfilling,6721

  The while her son, tracing6722 the desert wild,

  Sole,6723 but with holiest meditations fed,

  Into himself descended, and at once

  All his great work to come before him set—

  How to begin, how to accomplish best

  His end6724 of being on earth, and mission high.

  For Satan, with sly preface 6725 to return,

  Had left him vacant,6726 and with speed was gone

  Up to the middle region of thick air,

  Where all his Potentates in council sat.

  There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy,

  Solicitous and blank,6727 he thus began:

  “Princes, Heav’n’s ancient Sons, Ethereal Thrones—

  Daemonian Spirits now, from the element

  Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called,

  Powers of fire, air, water, and earth beneath

  (So may we hold our place and these mild seats

  Witho
ut new trouble!)—such an enemy

  Is ris’n to invade us, who no less

  Threat’ns than our expulsion down to Hell.

  I, as I undertook, and with the vote

  Consenting in full frequence6728 was empowered,

  Have found him, viewed him, tasted6729 him, but find

  Far other labor to be undergone

  Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men,

  Though Adam by his wife’s allurement6730 fell,

  However to this man inferior far—

  If he be man by mother’s side, at least,

  With more than human gifts from Heav’n adorned,

  Perfections absolute, graces divine,

  And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.

  Therefore I am returned, lest confidence

  Of my success with Eve in Paradise

  Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure

  Of like6731 succeeding here. I summon all

  Rather to be in readiness with hand

  Or counsel to assist, lest I, who erst

  Thought none my equal, now be overmatched.”

  So spoke the old serpent, doubting, and from all

  With clamor was assured their utmost aid

  At his command, when from amidst them rose

  Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell,

  The sensualest, and after Asmodai6732

  The fleshliest incubus,6733 and thus advised:

  “Set women in his eye and in his walk,

  Among daughters of men the fairest found.

  Many are in each region passing 6734 fair

  As the noon sky, more like to goddesses

  Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,6735

  Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues

  Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild

  And sweet allayed,6736 yet terrible6737 to approach,

  Skilled to retire, and in retiring draw

  Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets.

  Such object hath the power to soft’n and tame

  Severest temper,6738 smooth the rugged’st brow,

  Enerve6739 and with voluptuous hope dissolve,6740

  Draw out with credulous desire, and lead

  At will the manliest, resolutest breast,

  As the magnetic6741 hardest iron draws.

  Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart

  Of wisest Solomon, and made him build

  And made him bow to the gods of his wives.”

  To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:

  “Belial, in much uneven6742 scale thou weigh’st

  All others by thyself. Because of old

  Thou thyself doat’st on6743 womankind, admiring

  Their shape, their color,6744 and attractive grace,

  None are, thou think’st, but taken with such toys.6745

  Before the Flood, thou with thy lusty crew,

  False titled sons of God, roaming the earth,

  Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men,

  And coupled with them, and begot a race.

  Have we not seen, or by relation6746 heard,

  In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk’st,

  In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side,

  In valley or green meadow, to waylay

  Some beauty rare? Callisto,6747 Clymene,6748

  Daphne,6749 or Semele,6750 Antiopa,6751

  Or Amymone,6752 Syrinx6753 —many more

  Too long. Then lay’st thy scapes6754 on names adored,

  Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,

  Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan!6755 But these haunts6756

  Delight not all. Among the sons of men

  How many have with a smile made small account

  Of beauty and her lures, easily scorned

  All her assaults, on worthier things intent?

  “Remember that Pellean6757 conqueror,

  A youth, how all the beauties of the East

  He slightly6758 viewed, and slightly overpassed.

  “How he surnamed of Africa6759 dismissed,6760

  In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid.6761

  “For Solomon he lived at ease, and full

  Of honor, wealth, high fare,6762 aimed not beyond

  Higher design6763 than to enjoy his state,6764

  Thence to the bait of women lay exposed.

  “But he whom we attempt is wiser far

  Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,

  Made and set wholly on the accomplishment

  Of greatest things. What woman will you find,

  Though of this age the wonder and the fame,

  On whom his leisure6765 will vouchsafe an eye

  Of fond6766 desire? Or should she, confident

  As sitting queen adored on beauty’s throne,

  Descend with all her winning charms begirt 6767

  To enamor, as the zone6768 of Venus once

  Wrought that effect on Jove (so fables tell),6769

  How would one look from his majestic brow6770

  Discount’nance6771 her despised, and put to rout

  All her array, her female pride deject,6772

  Or turn to reverent awe? For beauty stands

  In th’ admiration only of weak minds

  Led captive. Cease to admire, and all her plumes6773

  Fall flat and shrink into a trivial toy,6774

  At every sudden slighting6775 quite abashed.6776

  “Therefore with manlier objects we must try

  His constancy—with such as have more show

  Of worth, of honor, glory, and popular praise

  (Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked),

  Or that which only seems to satisfy

  Lawful desires of nature, not beyond.

  And now I know he hungers,6777 where no food

  Is to be found, in the wide wilderness.

  The rest commit to me. I shall let pass

  No advantage, and his strength as oft assay.”

  He ceased, and heard their grant6778 in loud acclaim,

  Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band

  Of Spirits likest to himself in guile,

  To be at hand and at his beck6779 appear

  If cause were6780 to unfold some active6781 scene

  Of various persons, each to know his part,

  Then to the desert takes with these his flight,

  Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God,

  After forty days’ fasting, had remained,

  Now hung’ring first,6782 and to himself thus said:

  “Where will this end? Four times ten days I have passed,

  Wand’ring this woody maze, and human food

  Nor tasted, nor had appetite. That fast

  To virtue I impute6783 not, or count part

  Of what I suffer here. If Nature need not,

  Or God support Nature without repast,

  Though needing, what praise is it to endure?

  But now I feel I hunger, which declares

  Nature hath need of what she asks. Yet God

  Can satisfy that need some other way,

  Though hunger still remain. So6784 it remain

  Without this body’s wasting, I content me,

  And from the sting of famine6785 fear no harm,

  Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed

  Me hung’ring more to do my Father’s will.”

  It was the hour of night, when thus the Son

  Communed6786 in silent walk, then laid him down

  Under the hospitable covert nigh

  Of trees thick interwoven. There he slept,

  And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,

  Of meats and drinks, Nature’s refreshment sweet.

  Him thought he by the brook of Cherith6787 stood,

  And saw the ravens with their horny beaks

  Food to Elijah bringing, even and morn,

  Though ravenous, taught t’ abstain from what they brought.
<
br />   He saw the prophet also, how he fled

  Into the desert, and how there he slept

  Under a juniper, then how, awaked,

  He found his supper on the coals prepared,

  And by the Angel was bid rise and eat,

  And ate the second time after repose,

  The strength whereof sufficed him forty days.

  Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,6788

  Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.6789

  Thus wore out night; and now the herald lark

  Left his ground-nest, high tow’ring to descry

  The morn’s approach, and greet her with his song.

  As lightly from his grassy couch up rose

  Our Savior, and found all was but a dream:

  Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.

  Up to a hill anon6790 his steps he reared,6791

  From whose high top to ken6792 the prospect6793 round,

  If cottage were in view, sheep-cote,6794 or herd.

  But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote none he saw,

  Only in a bottom6795 saw a pleasant grove,

  With chant6796 of tuneful birds resounding loud.

  Thither he bent his way, determined there

  To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade

  High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys6797 brown,

  That opened6798 in the midst a6799 woody scene.

  Nature’s own work it seemed (Nature taught6800 art),

  And, to a superstitious eye, the haunt

  Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs. He viewed it round—

  When suddenly a man before him stood,

  Not rustic as before, but seemlier 6801 clad,

  As one in city or court or palace bred,

  And with fair speech these words to him addressed:

  “With granted leave officious6802 I return,

  But much more wonder that the Son of God

  In this wild solitude so long should bide,6803

  Of all things destitute and, well I know,

  Not without hunger. Others of some note,

  As story tells, have trod this wilderness:

  The fugitive bond-woman,6804 with her son,

  Outcast Nebaioth,6805 yet found here relief

  By a providing Angel. All the race

  Of Israel here had6806 famished, had not God

  Rained from Heav’n manna. And that prophet bold,

  Native of Thebez,6807 wand’ring here, was fed

  Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.