by John Milton
They err who count it glorious to subdue
By Conquest far and wide, to over-run
Large Countries, and in field great Battels win,
Great Cities by assault: what do these Worthies,
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But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave
Peaceable Nations, neighbouring, or remote,
Made Captive, yet deserving freedom more
Then those thir Conquerours, who leave behind
Nothing but ruin wheresoe’re they rove,
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And all the flourishing works of peace destroy,
Then swell with pride, and must be titl’d Gods,
Great Benefactors of mankind, Deliverers,
Worship’t with Temple, Priest and Sacrifice;
One is the Son of Jove, of Mars the other,4
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Till Conquerour Death discover them scarce men,
Rowling in brutish vices, and deform’d,
Violent or shameful death thir due reward.
But if there be in glory aught of good,
It may by means far different be attain’d
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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 born,
Made famous in a Land and times obscure;
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Who names not now with honour patient Job?
Poor Socrates (who next more memorable?)
By what he taught and suffer’d for so doing,
For truths sake suffering death unjust, lives now
Equal in fame to proudest Conquerours.
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Yet if for fame and glory aught be done,
Aught suffer’d; if young African5 for fame
His wasted Country freed from Punic rage,
The deed becomes unprais’d, the man at least,
And loses, though but verbal, his reward.
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Shall I seek glory then, as vain men seek
Oft not deserv’d? I seek not mine, but his
Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am.
To whom the Tempter murmuring thus reply’d.
Think not so slight of glory; therein least
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Resembling thy great Father: he seeks glory,
And for his glory all things made, all things
Orders and governs, nor content in Heav’n
By all his Angels glorifi’d, requires
Glory from men, from all men good or bad,
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Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption;
Above all Sacrifice, or hallow’d gift
Glory he requires, and glory he receives
Promiscuous from all Nations, Jew, or Greek,
Or Barbarous, nor exception hath declar’d;
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From us his foes pronounc’t glory he exacts.
To whom our Saviour fervently reply’d.
And reason; since his word all things produc’d,
Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,
But to shew forth his goodness, and impart
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His good communicable to every soul
Freely; of whom what could he less expect
Then glory and benediction, that is thanks,
The slightest, easiest, readiest recompence
From them who could return him nothing else,
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And not returning that would likeliest render
Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?
Hard recompence, unsutable return
For so much good, so much beneficence.
But why should man seek glory? who of his own
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Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs
But condemnation, ignominy, and shame?
Who for so many benefits receiv’d
Turn’d recreant6 to God, ingrate and false,
And so of all true good himself despoil’d,
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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 thir own,
Them he himself to glory will advance.
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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.
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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, ordain’d
To sit upon thy Father David’s Throne;
By Mothers side thy Father, though thy right
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Be now in powerful hands, that will not part
Easily from possession won with arms;
Judæa now and all the promis’d land
Reduc’t a Province under Roman yoke,
Obeys Tiberius; nor is always rul’d
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With temperate sway; oft have they violated
The Temple,7 oft the Law with foul affronts,
Abominations rather, as did once
Antiochus:8 and think’st thou to regain
Thy right by sitting still or thus retiring?
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So did not Machabeus:9 he indeed
Retir’d unto the Desert, but with arms;
And o’re a mighty King so oft prevail’d,
That by strong hand his Family obtain’d,
Though Priests, the Crown, and David’s Throne usurp’d,
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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 Occasions forelock watchful wait.
They themselves rather are occasion best,
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Zeal of thy Fathers house, Duty to free
Thy Country from her Heathen servitude;
So shalt thou best fullfil, best verifie
The Prophets old, who sung thy endless raign,
The happier raign the sooner it begins,
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Raign then; what canst thou better do the while?
To whom our Saviour answer thus return’d.
All things are best fullfil’d in their due time,
And time there is for all things, Truth hath said:10
If of my raign Prophetic Writ hath told,
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That it shall never end, so when begin
The Father in his purpose hath decreed,
He in whose hand all times and seasons roul.
What if he hath decreed that I shall first
Be try’d in humble state, and things adverse,
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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
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Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first
Well hath obey’d; just tryal e’re I merit
My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee when I begin
My everlasting Kingdom, why art thou
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Sollicitous, 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 rackt reply’d.
Let that come when it comes; all hope is lost
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Of my reception into grace; what worse?
For where no hope is
left, is left no fear;
If there be worse, the expectation more
Of worse torments me then the feeling can.
I would be at the worst; worst is my Port,
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My harbour and my ultimate repose,
The end I would attain, my final good.
My error was my error, and my crime
My crime; whatever for it self condemn’d,
And will alike be punish’d; whether thou
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Raign or raign not; though to that gentle brow
Willingly I could fly, and hope thy raign,
From that placid aspect and meek regard,
Rather then aggravate my evil state,
Would stand between me and thy Fathers ire
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(Whose ire I dread more then the fire of Hell),
A shelter and a kind of shading cool
Interposition, as a summers cloud.
If I then to the worst that can be hast,
Why move thy feet so slow to what is best,
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Happiest both to thy self and all the world,
That thou who worthiest art should’st be thir King?
Perhaps thou linger’st in deep thoughts detain’d
Of the enterprize so hazardous and high;
No wonder, for though in thee be united
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What of perfection can in man be found,
Or human nature can receive, consider
Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent
At home, scarce view’d the Gallilean Towns,
And once a year Jerusalem, few days
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Short sojourn; and what thence could’st thou observe?
The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,
Empires, and Monarchs, and thir radiant Courts,
Best school of best experience, quickest insight
In all things that to greatest actions lead.
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The wisest, unexperienc’t, will be ever
Timorous and loth, with novice modesty
(As he11 who seeking Asses found a Kingdom),
Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous:
But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit
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Those rudiments,12 and see before thine eyes
The Monarchies of th’ Earth, thir pomp and state,
Sufficient introduction to inform
Thee, of thy self so apt, in regal Arts,
And regal Mysteries; that thou may’st know
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How best their opposition to withstand.
With that (such power was giv’n him then) he took
The Son of God up to a Mountain high.
It was a Mountain at whose verdant feet
A spatious plain out stretch’t in circuit wide
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Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers13 flow’d,
Th’ one winding, th’ other strait and left between
Fair Champain with less rivers interveind,
Then meeting joyn’d thir tribute to the Sea:
Fertil of corn the glebe,14 of oyl and wine,
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With herds the pastures throng’d, with flocks the hills,
Huge Cities and high towr’d, that well might seem
The seats of mightiest Monarchs, and so large
The Prospect was, that here and there was room
For barren desert fountainless and dry.
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To this high mountain top the Tempter brought
Our Saviour, and new train of words began.
Well have we speeded, and o’re hill and dale,
Forest and field, and flood, Temples and Towers
Cut shorter many a league; here thou behold’st
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Assyria and her Empires antient bounds,
Araxes15 and the Caspian lake, thence on
As far as Indus East, Euphrates West,
And oft beyond; to South the Persian Bay,
And inaccessible th’ Arabian drouth:16
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Here Ninevee, of length within her wall
Several days journey, built by Ninus old,
Of that first golden Monarchy the seat,
And seat of Salmanassar,17 whose success
Israel in long captivity still mourns;
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There Babylon the wonder of all tongues,
As antient, but rebuilt by him18 who twice
Judah and all thy Father David’s house
Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus19 set them free; Persepolis
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His City there thou seest, and Bactra there;
Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,
And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates,
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but Kings; of later fame
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Built by Emathian,20 or by Parthian21 hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,
Turning with easie eye thou may’st behold.
All these the Parthian, now some Ages past,
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By great Arsaces led, who founded first
That Empire, under his dominion holds
From the luxurious Kings of Antioch22 won.
And just in time thou com’st to have a view
Of his great power; for now the Parthian King
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In Ctesiphon hath gather’d all his Host
Against the Scythian,23 whose incursions wild
Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid
He marches now in hast; see, though from far,
His thousands, in what martial equipage
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They issue forth, Steel Bows, and Shafts their arms
Of equal dread in flight, or in pursuit;
All Horsemen, in which fight they most excel;
See how in warlike muster they appear,
In Rhombs and wedges, and half moons, and wings.
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He look’t and saw what numbers numberless
The City gates out powr’d, light armed Troops
In coats of Mail and military pride;
In Mail thir horses clad, yet fleet and strong,
Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and choice
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Of many Provinces from bound to bound;
From Arachosia, from Candaor East,
And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs
Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian24 dales,
From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains
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Of Adiabene, Media, and the South
Of Susiana to Balsara’s hav’n.
He saw them in thir forms of battell rang’d,
How quick they wheel’d, and flying behind them shot
Sharp fleet of arrowie showers against the face
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Of thir pursuers, and overcame by flight;
The field all iron cast a gleaming brown,
Not wanted clouds of foot, nor on each horn,
Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight;
Chariots or Elephants endorst25 with Towers
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Of Archers, nor of labouring Pioners
A multitude with Spades and Axes arm’d
To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,
Or where plain was raise hill, or over-lay
With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke;
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Mules after these, Camels and Dromedaries,
And Waggons fraught with Utensils of war.
Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,
When Agrican26 with all his Northern powers
Besieg’d Albracca, as Romances tell;
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The City of Gallaphrone, from thence to win
The fairest of
her Sex Angelica
His daughter, sought by many Prowest27 Knights,
Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemane.
Such and so numerous was thir Chivalrie;
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At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presum’d,
And to our Saviour thus his words renew’d.
That thou may’st know I seek not to engage
Thy Vertue, and not every way secure
On no slight grounds thy safety; hear, and mark
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To what end I have brought thee hither and shewn
All this fair sight; thy Kingdom though foretold
By Prophet or by Angel, unless thou
Endeavour, as thy Father David did,
Thou never shalt obtain; prediction still
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In all things, and all men, supposes means,
Without means us’d, what it predicts revokes.
But say thou wert possess’d of David’s Throne
By free consent of all, none opposite,
Samaritan or Jew;28 how could’st thou hope
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Long to enjoy it quiet and secure,
Between two such enclosing enemies
Roman and Parthian? therefore one of these
Thou must make sure thy own, the Parthian first
By my advice, as nearer and of late
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Found able by invasion to annoy
Thy country, and captive lead away her Kings
Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound,
Maugre the Roman:29 it shall be my task
To render thee the Parthian at dispose;
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Chuse which thou wilt by conquest or by league.
By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly reinstall thee
In David’s royal seat, his true Successour,
Deliverance of thy brethren, those ten Tribes30
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Whose off-spring in his Territory yet serve
In Habor, and among the Medes dispers’t,
Ten Sons of Jacob, two of Joseph lost
Thus long from Israel; serving as of old
Thir Fathers in the land of Egypt serv’d,