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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 th' idolatries of Heathen round,

Besides their other worse than heath'nish 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 to their worship join'd.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who freed as to their ancient patrimony,
Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreform'd,
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,
Rememb'ring Abraham, by some wonderous call
May bring them back repentent and sincere,
And at their passing cleave th' Assyrian flood,
While to their native land with joy they haste,
As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,
When to the promis'd land their fathers pass'd:
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 falshood contends.

END OF BOOK THIRD.

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK IV.

PERPLEX'D and troubled at his bad success
The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply,
Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope
So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric

That sleek'd his tongue, and won so much on Eve,
So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve;
This far his over-match, who self-deceiv'd
And rash, beforehand 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'd where least he thought,
To salve his credit, and for very spite,

Still will be tempting him who foils him still,
And never cease, though to his shame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,

About the wine-press where sweet must is pour'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock;
Though all to shivers dash'd, th' assault renew,
Vain batt'ry, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever, and to shameful silence brought,
Yet gives not o'er though desp'rate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side

Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long, but in breadth 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 th' earth and seats of men
From cold Septentrion blasts, thence in the midst
Divided by a river of whose banks

On each side 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 trophies and triumphal arcs,
Gardens and groves presented to his eyes,
Above the height of mountains interpos'd,
By what strange parallax or optic skill
Of vision, multiplied through air or glass
Of telescope, were curious to inquire:
And now the Tempter thus his silence broke:
The city which thou seest no other deem
Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth,
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd
Of nations; there the capitol thou seest
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable; and there Mount Palatine,
Th' imperial palace, compass huge, and high
The structure, skill of noblest architects,
With gilded battlements, conspicuous far,
Turrets and terraces, and glitt'ring spires.
Many a fair edifice besides, more like
Houses of gods, (so well I have dispos'd
My airy microscope,) thou may'st behold
Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs,
Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd artificers
In cedar, marble, ivory or gold:
Thence to the gates cast round thine
What conflux issuing forth, or entering in ;
Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces
Hasting, or on return, in robes of state

eye

and see

Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings: Or embassies from regions far remote

In various habits, on the Appian road,

Or on th' Emilian; some from farthest south,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
Meroe Nilotic isle, and more to west,

The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea;
From th' Asian kings and Parthian among these,
From India and the golden Chersonese,
And utmost Indian Isle Taprobane,

Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreath'd;
From Gallia, Gades, and the British west;
Germans and Scythians, and Sarmathians north,
Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool,

All nations now to Rome obedience pay,
To Rome's great emperor, 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 barb'rous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shar'd among petty kings too far remov'd:
These having shown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This emp'ror hath no son, and now is old,
Old and lascivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Capræ, an island small but strong,
On the Campanian shore, with purpose there
His horrid lust in private to enjoy,
Committing to a wicked favourite

All public cares, and yet of him suspicious;
Hated of all, and hating; with what ease,
Endu'd with regal virtues, as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds.
Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne,
Now made a sty, and in his place ascending,
A victor people free from servile yoke?
And with my help thou mayst: to me the power

Is given, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim, therefore, at no less than all the world;
Aim at the highest; without the highest attain'd
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long

On David's throne, be prophesied what will.
To whom the Son of God, unmov'd, replied:
Nor doth this grandeur, and majestic show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,

More than of arms before, allure mine eye,
Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to tell
Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts,
On citron tables or Atlantic stone,

(For I have also heard, perhaps have read,)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups, imboss'd with gems
And studs of pearl; to me shouldst tell who thirst
And hunger still: then embassies thou show'st
From nations far and nigh: what honour that,
But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? Then proceed'st to talk
Of th' emperor, how easily subdu'd,
How gloriously: I shall, thou say'st, expel
A brutish monster: what if I withal
Expel a devil who first made him such?
Let his tormentor conscience, find him out;
For him I was not sent; nor yet to free
That people, victor once, now vile and base,
Deservedly made vassal, who once just,
Frugal and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well,
But govern ill the nations under yoke,
Peeling their provinces, exhausted all
By lust and rapine? first ambitious grown
Of triumph, that insulting vanity;
Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd
Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd;
Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still,
And from the daily scene effeminate,

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