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Book III
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;
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
To thy large heart give
utterance due; thy heart
Contains of good, wise,
just, the perfet shape.
Should kings and nations from
thy mouth consult,
Thy counsel would be as the oracle
Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems
On Aaron's
breast, or tongue of Seers old
Infallible; or, wert
thou sought to deeds
That might require the array of
war, thy skill
Of conduct would be such that all the
world
Could not sustain thy prowess, or subsist
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
The fame and glory--glory, the reward
That sole
excites to high attempts the flame
Of most erected
spirits, most tempered pure
AEthereal, who all
pleasures else despise,
All treasures and all gain
esteem as dross,
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
The Carthaginian pride; young
Pompey quelled
The Pontic king, and in triumph had
rode.
Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,
Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.
Great
Julius, whom now all the world admires,
The more he
grew in years, the more inflamed
With glory, wept
that he had lived so long
Ingloroious. But thou yet
art not too late."
To whom our Saviour calmly thus
replied:--
"Thou neither dost persuade me to seek
wealth
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,
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,
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.
The intelligent among them and the
wise
Are few, and glory scarce of few is raised.
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,
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, attributed
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
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,
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;
Till conqueror Death discover them scarce men,
Rowling in brutish vices, and deformed,
Violent or
shameful death their due reward.
But, if there be in
glory aught of good;
It may be means far different be
attained,
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;
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.
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.
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
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,
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;
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 shew forth his goodness, and impart
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,
And, not returning that,
would likeliest render
Contempt instead, dishonour,
obloquy?
Hard recompense, unsuitable return
For so
much good, so much beneficience!
But why should man
seek glory, who of his own
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;
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 advances his glory, not their own,
Them he
himself to glory will advance."
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:--
"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 father, though thy right
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
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?
So did not
Machabeus. 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,
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--
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.
Rein 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
That it shall never end, so,
when begin
The Father in his purpose hath decreed--
He in whose hand all times and seasons rowl.
What if
he hath decreed that I shall first
Be tried in humble
state, and things adverse,
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
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
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
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 than the
feeling can.
I would be at the worst; worst is my
port,
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 itself
condemned,
And will alike be punished, whether thou
Reign or reign not--though to that gentle brow
Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign,
From that
placid aspect and meek regard,
Rather than aggravate
my evil state,
Would stand between me and thy
Father's ire
(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of
Hell)
A shelter and a kind of shading cool
Interposition, as a summer's cloud.
If I, then, to
the worst that can be haste,
Why move thy feet so
slow to what is best?
Happiest, both to thyself and
all the world,
That thou, who worthiest art, shouldst
be their King!
Perhaps thou linger'st in deep
thoughts detained
Of the enterprise so hazardous and
high!
No wonder; for, though in thee be united
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 viewed the
Galilean towns,
And once a year Jerusalem, few days'
Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou observe?
The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,
Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts--
Best school of best experience, quickest in sight
In
all things that to greatest actions lead.
The wisest,
unexperienced, will be ever
Timorous, and loth, with
novice modesty
(As he who, seeking asses, found a
kingdom)
Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous.
But I
will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit
Those
rudiments, and see before thine eyes
The monarchies
of the Earth, their pomp and state--
Sufficient
introduction to inform
Thee, of thyself so apt, in
regal arts,
And regal mysteries; that thou may'st
know
How best their opposition to withstand."
With
that (such power was given him then), he took
The Son
of God up to a mountain high.
It was a mountain at
whose verdant feet
A spacious plain outstretched in
circuit wide
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers
flowed,
The one winding, the other straight, and left
between
Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined,
Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.
Fertil
of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine;
With herds the
pasture thronged, with flocks the hills;
Huge cities
and high-towered, 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.
To this high mountain-top the
Tempter brought
Our Saviour, and new train of words
began:--
"Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and
dale,
Forest, and field, and flood, temples and
towers,
Cut shorter many a league. Here thou
behold'st
Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds,
Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on
As far as
Indus east, Euphrates west,
And oft beyond; to south
the Persian bay,
And, inaccessible, the Arabian
drouth:
Here, Nineveh, of length within her wall
Several days' journey, built by Ninus old,
Of that
first golden monarchy the seat,
And seat of
Salmanassar, whose success
Israel in long captivity
still mourns;
There Babylon, the wonder of all
tongues,
As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice
Judah and all thy father David's house
Led captive,
and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus set them free;
Persepolis,
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,
Built by Emathian or by Parthian
hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,
Turning with easy eye,
thou may'st behold.
All these the Parthian (now some
ages past
By great Arsaces led, who founded first
That empire) under his dominion holds,
From the
luxurious kings of Antioch won.
And just in time thou
com'st to have a view
Of his great power; for now the
Parthian king
In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his host
Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild
Have
wasted Sogdiana; to her aid
He marches now in haste.
See, though from far,
His thousands, in what martial
equipage
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."
He looked, and saw what
numbers numberless
The city gates outpoured,
light-armed troops
In coats of mail and military
pride.
In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and
strong,
Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and
choice
Of many provinces from bound to bound--
From Arachosia, from Candaor east,
And Margiana, to
the Hyrcanian cliffs
Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian
dales;
From Atropatia, and the neighbouring plains
Of Adiabene, Media, and the south
Of Susiana, to
Balsara's haven.
He saw them in their forms of battle
ranged,
How quick they wheeled, and flying behind
them shot
Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the
face
Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight;
The field all iron cast a gleaming brown.
Nor wanted
clouds of foot, nor, on each horn,
Cuirassiers all in
steel for standing fight,
Chariots, or elephants
indorsed with towers
Of archers; nor of labouring
pioners
A multitude, with spades and axes armed,
To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,
Or
where plain was raise hill, or overlay
With bridges
rivers proud, as with a yoke:
Mules after these,
camels and dromedaries,
And waggons fraught with
utensils of war.
Such forces met not, nor so wide a
camp,
When Agrican, with all his northern powers,
Besieged Albracea, as romances tell,
The city of
Gallaphrone, from thence to win
The fairest of her
sex, Angelica,
His daughter, sought by many prowest
knights,
Both Paynim and the peers of Charlemane.
Such and so numerous was their chivalry;
At sight
whereof the Fiend yet more presumed,
And to our
Saviour thus his words renewed:--
"That thou may'st
know I seek not to engage
Thy virtue, and not every
way secure
On no slight grounds thy safety, hear and
mark
To what end I have brought thee hither, and shew
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
In all things, and all men, supposes means;
Without means used, what it predicts revokes.
But say
thou wert possessed of David's throne
By free consent
of all, none opposite,
Samaritan or Jew; how couldst
thou hope
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
Found able by invasion to annoy
Thy
country, and captive lead away her kings,
Antigonus
and old Hyrcanus, bound,
Maugre the Roman. It shall
be my task
To render thee the Parthian at dispose,
Choose 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 successor--
Deliverance of thy brethren,
those Ten Tribes
Whose offspring in his territory yet
serve
In Habor, and among the Medes dispersed:
The
sons of Jacob, two of Joseph, lost
Thus long from
Israel, serving, as of old
Their fathers in the land
of Egypt served,
This offer sets before thee to
deliver.
These if from servitude thou shalt restore
To their inheritance, then, nor till then,
Thou on
the throne of David in full glory,
From Egypt to
Euphrates and beyond,
Shalt reign, and Rome or Caesar
not need fear."
To whom our Saviour answered thus,
unmoved:--
"Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm
And fragile arms, much instrument of war,
Long in
preparing, soon to nothing brought,
Before mine eyes
thou hast set, and in my ear
Vented much policy, and
projects deep
Of enemies, of aids, battles, and
leagues,
Plausible to the world, to me worth naught.
Means I must use, thou say'st; prediction else
Will
unpredict, and fail me of the throne!
My time, I told
thee (and that time for thee
Were better farthest
off), is not yet come.
When that comes, think not
thou to find me slack
On my part aught endeavouring,
or to need
Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome
Luggage of war there shewn me--argument
Of human
weakness rather than of strength.
My brethren, as
thou call'st them, those Ten Tribes,
I must deliver,
if I mean to reign
David's true heir, and his full
sceptre sway
To just extent over all Israel's sons!
But whence to thee this zeal? Where was it then
For
Israel, or for David, or his throne,
When thou
stood'st up his tempter to the pride
Of numbering
Israel--which cost the lives
of threescore and ten
thousand Israelites
By three days' pestilence? Such
was thy zeal
To Israel then, the same that now to me.
As for those captive tribes, themselves were they
Who
wrought their own captivity, fell off
From God to
worship calves, the deities
Of Egypt, Baal next and
Ashtaroth,
And all the idolatries of heathen round,
Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes;
Nor
in the land of their captivity
Humbled themselves, or
penitent besought
The God of their forefathers, but
so died
Impenitent, and left a race behind
Like to
themselves, distinguishable scarce
From Gentiles, but
by circumcision vain,
And God with idols in their
worship joined.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who, freed, as to their ancient patrimony,
Unhumbled,
unrepentant, unreformed,
Headlong would follow, and
to their gods perhaps
Of Bethel and of Dan? No; let
them serve
Their enemies who serve idols with God.
Yet He at length, time to himself best known,
Remembering Abraham, by some wondrous call
May bring
them back, repentant and sincere,
And at their
passing cleave the Assyrian flood,
While to their
native land with joy they haste,
As the Red Sea and
Jordan once he cleft,
When to the Promised Land their
fathers passed.
To his due time and providence I
leave them."
So spake Israel's true King, and to the
Fiend
Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.
So fares it when with truth falsehood contends.
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