ERPLEX'D and troubl'd at his bad fuccefs
The Tempter ftood, nor had what to
Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope, So oft, and the perfwasive Rhetoric
That fleek't his tongue, and won so much on Eve,
So little here, nay loft; but Eve was Eve,
This far his over-match, who felf deceiv'd
And rafh, before-hand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own :
But as a man who had been matchless held
In cunning, over-reach't where least he thought,
To falve his credit, and for very spight
Still will be tempting him who foyls him still,
And never cease, though to his fhame the more;
Or as a fwarm of flies in vintage time,
About the wine-prefs where fweet mouft is powr'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming found;
Or furging waves against a solid rock,
Though all to shivers dash't, the affault renew,
Vain battry, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever; and to fhameful filence brought,
Yet gives not o're though desperate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.
He brought our Saviour to the western fide
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long but in bredth not wide;
Wash'd by the Southern Sea, and on the North
To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills
That screen'd the fruits of the earth and feats of men
From cold Septentrion blasts, thence in the midst
Divided by a river, of whose banks
On each fide an Imperial City stood,
With Towers and Temples proudly elevate
On seven small Hills, with Palaces adorn'd,
Porches and Theatres, Baths, Aqueducts,
Statues and Trophees, and Triumphal Arcs,
Gardens and Groves prefented to his eyes,
Above the highth of Mountains interpos'd.
By what strange Parallax or Optic skill
Of vifion multiplyed through air, or glass
Of Telescope, were curious to enquire:
And now the Tempter thus his filence broke.
The City which thou seeft no other deem
Then great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enricht
Of Nations; there the Capitol thou seest
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her Cittadel
Impregnable, and there Mount Palatine
The Imperial Palace, compass huge, and high
The Structure, skill of nobleft Architects,
With gilded battlements, confpicuous far,
Turrets and Terrafes, and glittering Spires..
Many a fair Edifice befides, more like
Houses of Gods (fo well I have difpos'd
My Aerie Microscope) thou may'st behold
Outside and infide both, pillars and roofs
Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd Artificers
In Cedar, Marble, Ivory or Gold.
Thence to the gates caft round thine eye,
What conflux iffuing forth, or entring in,
Pretors, Proconfuls to thir Provinces
Hafting or on return, in robes of State;
Lictors and rods the enfigns of thir power,
Legions and Cohorts, turmes of horse and wings :
Or Embaffies from Regions far remote
In various habits on the Appian road,
Or on the Emilian, fome from fartheft South,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
Meroe Nilotic Ifle, and more to West,
The Realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor Sea;
From the Afian Kings and Parthian among these,
From India and the golden Cherfonefs,
And utmost Indian Inle Taprobane,
Dusk faces with white filken Turbants wreath'd:
From Gallia, Gades, and the Brittish Weft,
Germans and Scythians, and Sarmatians North
Beyond Danubius to the Tauric Pool.
All Nations now to Rome obedience pay,
To Rome's great Emperour, whose wide domain
In ample Territory, wealth and power,
Civility of Manners, Arts, and Arms,
And long Renown thou justly may'st prefer
Before the Parthian; these two Thrones except,
The reft are barbarous, and scarce worth the fight,
Shar'd among petty Kings too far remov'd;
These having fhewn thee, I have shewn thee all
The Kingdoms of the world, and all thir glory.
This Emperour hath no Son, and now is old, 90
Old, and lafcivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Caprea an Island small but strong
On the Campanian fhore, with purpose there
His horrid lufts in private to enjoy,
Committing to a wicked Favourite
All publick cares, and yet of him fufpicious,
Hated of all, and hating; with what ease
Indu'd with Regal Vertues as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,
Might'ft thou expel this monster from his Throne
Now made a stye, and in his place afcending
A victor people free from servile yoke?
And with my help thou may'ft; to me the
Is given, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim therefore at no less then all the world,
Aim at the highest, without the highest attain'd
Will be for thee no fitting, or not long
On David's Throne, be propheci'd what will.
To whom the Son of God unmov'd reply'd.
Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
More then of arms before, allure mine eye,
Much less my mind; though thou should'stadd to tell Thir fumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feafts On Cittron tables or Atlantic stone;
(For I have also heard, perhaps have read) Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, Chios and Creet, and how they quaff in Gold,
Crystal and Myrrhine cups imbofs'd with Gems
And ftuds of Pearl, to me should'ft tell who thirst
And hunger still: then Embaffies thou shew'st 121
From Nations far and nigh; what honour that,
But tedious waft of time to fit and hear
So many hollow complements and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'st to talk
Of the Emperour, how eafily fubdu'd,
How gloriously; I shall, thou say'st, expel
A brutish monster: what if I withal
Expel a Devil who firft made him fuch?
Let his tormenter Confcience find him out,
For him I was not fent, nor yet to free
That people victor once, now vile and base,
Deservedly made vaffal, who once juft,
Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well,
But govern ill the Nations under yoke,
Peeling thir Provinces, exhaufted all
By luft and rapine; first ambitious grown
Of triumph that infulting vanity;
Then cruel, by thir sports to blood enur'd
Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd, 140
Luxurious by thir wealth, and greedier still,
And from the daily Scene effeminate.
What wife and valiant man would feek to free
These thus degenerate, by themselves enflav'd,
Or could of inward flaves make outward free?
Know therefore when my season comes to fit
On David's Throne, it shall be like a tree
Spreading and over-shadowing all the Earth,
Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash
All Monarchies befides throughout the world, 150
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