Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites? 425 430 435 By thee are giv'n, and what confest more true 440 445 To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth, But from him or his angels president In ev'ry province? who, themselves disdaining T'approach thy temples, give thee in command 426 won] Verb neuter, so Spens. F. Q. i. vi. 39: 'And he the stoutest knight that ever won.' Newton. What to the smallest tittle thou shalt say Into the world to teach his final will, 450 455 460 And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell In pious hearts, an inward oracle To all truth requisite for men to know. So spake our Saviour; but the subtle fiend, 465 Though inly stung with anger and disdain, Dissembled, and this answer smooth return'd. 470 Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke, And urg'd me hard with doings, which not will, But misery, hath wrested from me; where Easily canst thou find one miserable, And not enforc'd ofttimes to part from truth, If it may stand him more in stead to lie, Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure? But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; 475 From thee I can, and must, submiss endure Check or reproof, and glad to escape so quit. 456 ceas'd] Juv. Sat. vi. 554. VOL. II. 'Delphis oracula cessant.' Dunster. 20 Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk, Smooth on the tongue discours'd, pleasing to th' ear, And tuneable as sylvan pipe or song; What wonder then if I delight to hear Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire And talk at least, though I despair to attain. To whom our Saviour with unalter'd brow. 480 485 490 495 487 atheous] Cicero, speaking of Diagoras, 'Atheos qui dictus est.' De Nat. D. i. 23. 'Atheal' is not uncommon in old English. Dunster. Todd. 496 gray dissimulation] See Ford's Broken Heart; ed. Weber, p. 304. 'Lay by thy whining gray dissimulation.' Into thin air diffus'd: for now began 500 Night with her sullen wings to double-shade 499 thin] Virg. Æn. iv. 278. 'Et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.' Shakesp. Temp. act iv. sc. 2. 'Are melted into air, into thin air.' Dunster. 500 Night] Nonnus ends the xxvth book of his Dionysiaca thus, Καὶ σκιερὴν ἐμέλαινεν ὅλην χθόνα σιγαλέη νύξ· 500 double-shade] Ov. Met. xi. 550. 'Duplicataque noctis imago est.' Dunster. 501 fowls] Beaumont's Psyche, c. xiii. st. 355, ed. 1648. 'Each gentle fair-condition'd bird and beast Hied them unto their nests and dens . . . . .... Only some ominous ravens, and screech owles prest 308 PARADISE REGAINED. BOOK II. MEANWHILE the new-baptiz'd, who yet remain'd And on that high authority had believ'd, 5 10 And with him talk'd, and with him lodg'd-I mean 15 6 mean] See this expression in Harington's Ariosto, xxxi. 46. 'I mean Renaldo's House of Montalbane;' and st. 55. 'I mean the cruel Pagan Rodomont.' Newton. 18 shown] Virg. Æn. vi. 869. 'Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata.' |