Page images
PDF
EPUB

These if from fervitude thou shalt restore
To thir inheritance, then, nor till then,
Thou on the Throne of David in full glory,
From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond

Shalt raign, and Rome or Cæfar not need fear.
To whom our Saviour answer'd thus unmov'd,
Much oftentation vain of fleshly arm,

391

And fragile arms, much inftrument of war
Long in preparing, foon to nothing brought,
Before mine eyes thou hast set; and in my ear
Vented much policy, and projects deep
Of enemies, of aids, battels and leagues,
Plaufible to the world, to me worth naught.
Means I must use thou fay'ft, prediction elfe
Will unpredict and fail me of the Throne :
My time I told thee, (and that time for thee
Were better fartheft off) is not yet come;
When that comes think not thou to find me flack
On my part aught endeavouring, or to need
Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome
Luggage of war there fhewn me, argument
Of human weakness rather then of ftrength.
My brethren, as thou call'ft them; thofe Ten Tribes
I must deliver, if I mean to raign

David's true heir, and his full Scepter fway

To just extent over all Ifrael's Sons;

400

But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then For Ifrael, or for David, or his Throne,

410

When thou stood'ft up his Tempter to the pride
Of numbring Ifrael, which coft the lives
Of threescore and ten thousand Ifraelites
By three days Peftilence? fuch was thy zeal
To Ifrael then, the fame 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,

Befides thir other worse then heathenish crimes;
Nor in the land of their captivity

Humbled themselves, or penitent befought
The God of their fore-fathers; but fo dy'd
Impenitent, and left a race behind

Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce
From Gentils, but by Circumcifion vain,
And God with Idols in their worship joyn'd.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who freed, as to their antient Patrimony,
Unhumbl❜d, unrepentant, unreform'd,

420

431

Headlong would follow; and to thir Gods perhaps
Of Bethel and of Dan? no, let them serve
Thir enemies, who ferve Idols with God.
Yet he at length, time to himself best known,
Remembring Abraham by fome wond'rous call
May bring them back repentant and fincere,
And at their paffing cleave the Affyrian flood,
While to their native land with joy they haft,
As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,
When to the promis'd land thir Fathers pass'd;
To his due time and providence I leave them. 440
So fpake Ifrael's true King, and to the Fiend
Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.
So fares it when with truth falfhood contends.

The End of the Third Book.

P

Paradife Regain'd.

BOOK IV.

ERPLEX'D and troubl'd at his bad fuccefs The Tempter fstood, nor had what to reply,

Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope, So oft, and the perswasive Rhetoric

[ocr errors]

That fleek't his tongue, and won fo much on Eve,
So little here, nay loft; but Eve was Eve,
This far his over-match, who felf deceiv'd
And rash, 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 ceafe, though to his fhame the more;
Or as a fwarm of flies in vintage time,
About the wine-press where sweet mouft is powr'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming found;
Or furging waves against a folid rock,

Though all to fhivers dash't, the affault renew,
Vain battry, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever; and to shameful filence brought,

20

Yet gives not o're though defperate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side

29

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,

40

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 presented 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 seest 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 noblest Architects,
With gilded battlements, confpicuous far,
Turrets and Terrafes, and glittering Spires.

50

Many a fair Edifice befides, more like
Houses of Gods (fo well I have difpos'd
My Aerie Microscope) thou may'st behold
Outfide and inside both, pillars and roofs
Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd Artificers
In Cedar, Marble, Ivory or Gold.

60

Thence to the gates caft round thine eye, and fee
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,

70

Or on the Æmilian, fome from fartheft South,
Syene, and where the fhadow 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 thefe,
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.

80

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 rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the fight,

« PreviousContinue »