The Poetical Works of John Milton Part 31

As for those captive Tribes, themselves were they Who wrought their own captivity, fell off From G.o.d to wors.h.i.+p Calves, the Deities Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth, And all the Idolatries of Heathen round, Besides thir other worse then heathenish crimes; Nor in the land of their captivity 420 Humbled themselves, or penitent besought The G.o.d of their fore-fathers; but so dy'd Impenitent, and left a race behind Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce From Gentils, but by Circ.u.mcision vain, And G.o.d with Idols in their wors.h.i.+p joyn'd.

Should I of these the liberty regard, Who freed, as to their antient Patrimony, Unhumbl'd, unrepentant, unreform'd, Headlong would follow; and to thir G.o.ds perhaps 430 Of Bethel and of Dan? no, let them serve Thir enemies, who serve Idols with G.o.d.

Yet he at length, time to himself best known, Remembring Abraham by some wond'rous call May bring them back repentant and sincere, And at their pa.s.sing cleave the a.s.syrian flood, While to their native land with joy they hast, As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft, When to the promis'd land thir Fathers pa.s.s'd; To his due time and providence I leave them. 440 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.

The End of the Third Book.

The Fourth Book.

PERPLEX'D and troubl'd 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 perswasive Rhetoric That sleek't 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, 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 10 In cunning, over-reach't where least he thought, To salve his credit, and for very spight Still will be tempting him who foyls 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 moust is powr'd, Beat off; returns as oft with humming sound; Or surging waves against a solid rock, Though all to s.h.i.+vers dash't, the a.s.sault renew, Vain battry, and in froth or bubbles end: 20 So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse Met ever; and to shameful silence brought, Yet gives not o're though desperate 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 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 seats of men 30 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 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 40 Of vision multiplyed through air or gla.s.s Of Telescope, were curious to enquire: And now the Tempter thus his silence 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 50 The Imperial Palace, compa.s.s huge, and high The Structure, skill of n.o.blest Architects, With gilded battlements, conspicuous far, Turrets and Terrases, and glittering Spires.

Many a fair Edifice besides, more like Houses of G.o.ds (so well I have dispos'd My Aerie 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. 60 Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see What conflux issuing forth, or entring in, Pretors, Proconsuls to thir Provinces Hasting or on return, in robes of State; Lictors and rods the ensigns of thir power, Legions and Cohorts, turmes of horse and wings: Or Emba.s.sies from Regions far remote In various habits on the Appian road, Or on the Aemilian, some from farthest South, Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, 70 Meroe, Nilotic Isle, and more to West, The Realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor Sea; From the Asian Kings and Parthian among these, From India 'and the golden Chersoness, And utmost Indian Isle Taprobane, Dusk faces with white silken Turbants wreath'd: From Gallia, Gades, and the Brittish West, Germans and Scythians, and Sarmatians North Beyond Danubius to the Tauric Pool.

All Nations now to Rome obedience pay, 80 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 sight, Shar'd among petty Kings too far remov'd; These having shewn 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 lascivious, and from Rome retir'd To Capreae an Island small but strong On the Campanian sh.o.r.e, with purpose there His horrid l.u.s.ts in private to enjoy, Committing to a wicked Favourite All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious, Hated of all, and hating; with what ease Indu'd with Regal Vertues as thou art, Appearing, and beginning n.o.ble deeds, Might'st thou expel this monster from his Throne 100 Now made a stye, and in his place ascending A victor people free from servile yoke?

And with my help thou may'st; to me the power 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 sitting, or not long On Davids Throne, be propheci'd what will, To whom the Son of G.o.d unmov'd reply'd.

Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show 110 Of luxury, though call'd magnificence, More then of arms before, allure mine eye, Much less my mind; though thou should'st add to tell Thir sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts 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 imboss'd with Gems And studs of Pearl, to me should'st tell who thirst 120 And hunger still: then Emba.s.sies thou shew'st From Nations far and nigh; what honour that, But tedious wast of time to sit and hear So many hollow complements and lies, Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'st to talk Of the Emperour, 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 tormenter Conscience find him out, 130 For him I was not sent, nor yet to free That people victor once, now vile and base, Deservedly made va.s.sal, who once just, Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well, But govern ill the Nations under yoke, Peeling thir Provinces, exhausted all By l.u.s.t and rapine; first ambitious grown Of triumph that insulting 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 wise and valiant man would seek to free These thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd, Or could of inward slaves make outward free?

Know therefore when my season comes to sit 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 besides throughout the world, 150 And of my Kingdom there shall be no end: Means there shall be to this, but what the means, Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.

To whom the Tempter impudent repli'd.

I see all offers made by me how slight Thou valu'st, because offer'd, and reject'st: Nothing will please the difficult and nice, Or nothing more then still to contradict: On the other side know also thou, that I On what I offer set as high esteem, 160 Nor what I part with mean to give for naught; All these which in a moment thou behold'st, The Kingdoms of the world to thee I give; For giv'n to me, I give to whom I please, No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else, On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, And wors.h.i.+p me as thy superior Lord, Easily done, and hold them all of me; For what can less so great a gift deserve?

Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain. 170 I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less, Now both abhor, since thou hast dar'd to utter The abominable terms, impious condition; But I endure the time, till which expir'd, Thou hast permission on me. It is written The first of all Commandments, Thou shalt wors.h.i.+p The Lord thy G.o.d, and only him shalt serve; And dar'st thou to the Son of G.o.d propound To wors.h.i.+p thee accurst, now more accurst For this attempt bolder then that on Eve, 180 And more blasphemous? which expect to rue.

The Kingdoms of the world to thee were giv'n, Permitted rather, and by thee usurp't, Other donation none thou canst produce: If given, by whom but by the King of Kings, G.o.d over all supreme? if giv'n to thee, By thee how fairly is the Giver now Repaid? But grat.i.tude in thee is lost Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame, As offer them to me the Son of G.o.d, 190 To me my own, on such abhorred pact, That I fall down and wors.h.i.+p thee as G.o.d?

Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st That Evil one, Satan for ever d.a.m.n'd.

To whom the Fiend with fear abasht reply'd.

Be not so sore offended, Son of G.o.d; Though Sons of G.o.d both Angels are and Men, If I to try whether in higher sort Then these thou bear'st that t.i.tle, have propos'd What both from Men and Angels I receive, 200 Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds, G.o.d of this world invok't and world beneath; Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold To me so fatal, me it most concerns.

The tryal hath indamag'd thee no way, Rather more honour left and more esteem; Me naught advantag'd, missing what I aim'd.

Therefore let pa.s.s, as they are transitory, The Kingdoms of this world; I shall no more 210 Advise thee, gain them as thou canst, or not.

And thou thy self seem'st otherwise inclin'd Then to a worldly Crown, addicted more To contemplation and profound dispute, As by that early action may be judg'd, When slipping from thy Mothers eye thou went'st Alone into the Temple; there was found Among the gravest Rabbies disputant On points and questions fitting Moses Chair, Teaching not taught; the childhood shews the man, 220 As morning shews the day. Be famous then By wisdom; as thy Empire must extend, So let extend thy mind o're all the world, In knowledge, all things in it comprehend, All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote, The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach To admiration, led by Natures light; And with the Gentiles much thou must converse, Ruling them by perswasion as thou mean'st, 230 Without thir learning how wilt thou with them, Or they with thee hold conversation meet?

How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Thir Idolisms, Traditions, Paradoxes?

Error by his own arms is best evinc't.

Look once more e're we leave this specular Mount Westward, much nearer by Southwest, behold Where on the Aegean sh.o.r.e a City stands Built n.o.bly, pure the air, and light the soil, Athens the eye of Greece, Mother of Arts 240 And Eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess, City or Suburban, studious walks and shades; See there the Olive Grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic Bird Trills her thick-warbl'd notes the summer long, There flowrie hill Hymettus with the sound Of Bees industrious murmur oft invites To studious musing; there Ilissus rouls His whispering stream; within the walls then view 250 The schools of antient Sages; his who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next: There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power Of harmony in tones and numbers. .h.i.t By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse, Aeolian charms and Dorian Lyric Odes, And his who gave them breath, but higher sung, Blind Melesigenes thence Homer call'd, Whose Poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own. 260 Thence what the lofty grave Tragoedians taught In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd In brief sententious precepts, while they treat Of fate, and chance, and change in human life; High actions, and high pa.s.sions best describing; Thence to the famous Orators repair, Those antient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce Democratie, Shook the a.r.s.enal and fulmin'd over Greece, 270 To Macedon, and Artaxerxes Throne; To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear, From Heaven descended to the low-rooft house Of Socrates, see there his Tenement, Whom well inspir'd the Oracle p.r.o.nounc'd Wisest of men; from whose mouth issu'd forth Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools Of Academics old and new, with those Sirnam'd Peripatetics, and the Sect Epicurean, and the Stoic severe; 280 These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home, Till time mature thee to a Kingdom's waight; These rules will render thee a King compleat Within thy self, much more with Empire joyn'd.

To whom our Saviour sagely thus repli'd.

Think not but that I know these things, or think I know them not; not therefore am I short Of knowing what I aught: he who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other doctrine needs, though granted true; 290 But these are false, or little else but dreams, Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.

The first and wisest of them all profess'd To know this only, that he nothing knew; The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits, A third sort doubted all things, though plain sence; Others in vertue plac'd felicity, But vertue joyn'd with riches and long life, In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease, The Stoic last in Philosophic pride, 300 By him call'd vertue; and his vertuous man, Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing Equal to G.o.d, oft shames not to prefer, As fearing G.o.d nor man, contemning all Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life, Which when he lists, he leaves, or boasts he can, For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle s.h.i.+fts conviction to evade.

Alas what can they teach, and not mislead; Ignorant of themselves, of G.o.d much more, 310 And how the world began, and how man fell Degraded by himself, on grace depending?

Much of the Soul they talk, but all awrie, And in themselves seek vertue, and to themselves All glory arrogate, to G.o.d give none, Rather accuse him under usual names, Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these True wisdom, finds her not, or by delusion Far worse, her false resemblance only meets, 320 An empty cloud. However many books Wise men have said are wearisom; who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not A spirit and judgment equal or superior, (And what he brings, what needs he elsewhere seek) Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains Deep verst in books and shallow in himself; Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys, And trifles for choice matters, worth a spunge; As Children gathering pibles on the sh.o.r.e. 330 Or if I would delight my private hours With Music or with Poem, where so soon As in our native Language can I find That solace? All our Law and Story strew'd With Hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, Our Hebrew Songs and Harps in Babylon, That pleas'd so well our Victors ear, declare That rather Greece from us these Arts deriv'd; Ill imitated, while they loudest sing The vices of thir Deities, and thir own 340 In Fable, Hymn, or Song, so personating Thir G.o.ds ridiculous, and themselves past shame.

Remove their swelling Epithetes thick laid As varnish on a Harlots cheek, the rest, Thin sown with aught of profit or delight, Will far be found unworthy to compare With Sion's songs, to all true tasts excelling, Where G.o.d is prais'd aright, and G.o.dlike men, The Holiest of Holies, and his Saints; Such are from G.o.d inspir'd, not such from thee; 350 Unless where moral vertue is express't By light of Nature not in all quite lost.

Thir Orators thou then extoll'st, as those The top of Eloquence, Statists indeed, And lovers of thir Country, as may seem; But herein to our Prophets far beneath, As men divinely taught, and better teaching The solid rules of Civil Government In thir majestic unaffected stile Then all the Oratory of Greece and Rome. 360 In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so, What ruins Kingdoms, and lays Cities flat; These only with our Law best form a King.

So spake the Son of G.o.d; but Satan now Quite at a loss, for all his darts were spent, Thus to our Saviour with stern brow reply'd.

Since neither wealth, nor honour, arms nor arts, Kingdom nor Empire pleases thee, nor aught By me propos'd in life contemplative, Or active, tended on by glory, or fame, 370 What dost thou in this World? the Wilderness For thee is fittest place, I found thee there, And thither will return thee, yet remember What I foretell thee, soon thou shalt have cause To wish thou never hadst rejected thus Nicely or cautiously my offer'd aid, Which would have set thee in short time with ease On David's Throne; or Throne of all the world, Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season, 380 When Prophesies of thee are best fullfill'd.

Now contrary, if I read aught in Heaven, Or Heav'n write aught of Fate, by what the Stars Voluminous, or single characters, In thir conjunction met, give me to spell, Sorrows, and labours, Opposition, hate, Attends thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries, Violence and stripes, and lastly cruel death, A Kingdom they portend thee, but what Kingdom, Real or Allegoric I discern not, 390 Nor when, eternal sure, as without end, Without beginning; for no date prefixt Directs me in the Starry Rubric set.

So saying he took (for still he knew his power Not yet expir'd) and to the Wilderness Brought back the Son of G.o.d, and left him there, Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose, As day-light sunk, and brought in lowring night Her shadowy off-spring unsubstantial both, Privation meer of light and absent day. 400 Our Saviour meek and with untroubl'd mind After his aerie jaunt, though hurried sore, Hungry and cold betook him to his rest, Wherever, under some concourse of shades Whose branching arms thick intertwind might s.h.i.+eld From dews and damps of night his shelter'd head, But shelter'd slept in vain, for at his head The Tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams Disturb'd his sleep; and either Tropic now 'Gan thunder, and both ends of Heav'n, the Clouds 410 From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd Fierce rain with lightning mixt, water with fire In ruine reconcil'd: nor slept the winds Within thir stony caves, but rush'd abroad From the four hinges of the world, and fell On the vext Wilderness, whose tallest Pines, Though rooted deep as high, and st.u.r.diest Oaks Bow'd thir Stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts, Or torn up sheer: ill wast thou shrouded then, O patient Son of G.o.d, yet only stoodst 420 Unshaken; nor yet staid the terror there, Infernal Ghosts, and h.e.l.lish Furies, round Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd, Some bent at thee thir fiery darts, while thou Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace.

Thus pa.s.s'd the night so foul till morning fair Came forth with Pilgrim steps in amice gray; Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds, And grisly Spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd 430 To tempt the Son of G.o.d with terrors dire.

And now the Sun with more effectual beams Had chear'd the face of Earth, and dry'd the wet From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds Who all things now behold more fresh and green, After a night of storm so ruinous, Clear'd up their choicest notes in bush and spray To gratulate the sweet return of morn; Nor yet amidst this joy and brightest morn Was absent, after all his mischief done, 440 The Prince of darkness, glad would also seem Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came, Yet with no new device, they all were spent, Rather by this his last affront resolv'd, Desperate of better course, to vent his rage, And mad despight to be so oft repell'd.

Him walking on a Sunny hill he found, Back'd on the North and West by a thick wood, Out of the wood he starts in wonted shape; And in a careless mood thus to him said. 450 Fair morning yet betides thee Son of G.o.d, After a dismal night; I heard the rack As Earth and Skie would mingle; but my self Was distant; and these flaws, though mortals fear them As dangerous to the pillard frame of Heaven, Or to the Earths dark basis underneath, Are to the main as inconsiderable, And harmless, if not wholsom, as a sneeze To mans less universe, and soon are gone; Yet as being oft times noxious where they light 460 On man, beast, plant, wastful and turbulent, Like turbulencies in the affairs of men, Over whose heads they rore, and seem to point, They oft fore-signifie and threaten ill: This Tempest at this Desert most was bent; Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.

Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject The perfet season offer'd with my aid To win thy destin'd seat, but wilt prolong All to the push of Fate, persue thy way 470 Of gaining David's Throne no man knows when, For both the when and how is no where told, Thou shalt be what thou art ordain'd, no doubt; For Angels have proclaim'd it, but concealing The time and means: each act is rightliest done, Not when it must, but when it may be best.

If thou observe not this, be sure to find, What I foretold thee, many a hard a.s.say Of dangers, and adversities and pains, E're thou of Israel's Scepter get fast hold; 480 Whereof this ominous night that clos'd thee round, So many terrors, voices, prodigies May warn thee, as a sure fore-going sign.

So talk'd he, while the Son of G.o.d went on And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus.

Mee worse then wet thou find'st not; other harm Those terrors which thou speak'st of did me none; I never fear'd they could, though noising loud And threatning nigh; what they can do as signs Betok'ning, or ill boding, I contemn 490 As false portents, not sent from G.o.d, but thee; Who knowing I shall raign past thy preventing.

Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I accepting At least might seem to hold all power of thee, Ambitious spirit, and wouldst be thought my G.o.d, And storm'st refus'd, thinking to terrifie Mee to thy will; desist, thou art discern'd And toil'st in vain, nor me in vain molest.

To whom the Fiend now swoln with rage reply'd: Then hear, O Son of David, Virgin-born; 500 For Son of G.o.d to me is yet in doubt, Of the Messiah I have heard foretold By all the Prophets; of thy birth at length Announc't by Gabriel with the first I knew, And of the Angelic Song in Bethlehem field, On thy birth-night, that sung thee Saviour born.

From that time seldom have I ceas'd to eye Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth, Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred; Till at the Ford of Jordan whither all 510 Flock'd to the Baptist, I among the rest, Though not to be Baptiz'd, by voice from Heav'n Heard thee p.r.o.nounc'd the Son of G.o.d belov'd.

Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view And narrower Scrutiny, that I might learn In what degree or meaning thou art call'd The Son of G.o.d, which bears no single sence; The Son of G.o.d I also am, or was, And if I was, I am; relation stands; All men are Sons of G.o.d; yet thee I thought 520 In some respect far higher so declar'd.

Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour, And follow'd thee still on to this wast wild; Where by all best conjectures I collect Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

Good reason then, if I before-hand seek To understand my Adversary, who And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent, By parl, or composition, truce, or league To win him, or win from him what I can. 530 And opportunity I here have had To try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee Proof against all temptation as a rock Of Adamant, and as a Center, firm To the utmost of meer man both wise and good, Not more; for Honours, Riches, Kingdoms, Glory Have been before contemn'd, and may agen: Therefore to know what more thou art then man, Worth naming Son of G.o.d by voice from Heav'n, Another method I must now begin. 540 So saying he caught him up, and without wing Of Hippogrif bore through the Air sublime Over the Wilderness and o're the Plain; Till underneath them fair Jerusalem, The holy City lifted high her Towers, And higher yet the glorious Temple rear'd Her pile, far off appearing like a Mount Of Alabaster, top't with golden Spires: There on the highest Pinacle he set The Son of G.o.d; and added thus in scorn: 550 There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright Will ask thee skill; I to thy Fathers house Have brought thee, and highest plac't, highest is best, Now shew thy Progeny; if not to stand, Cast thy self down; safely if Son of G.o.d: For it is written, He will give command Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands They shall up lift thee, lest at any time Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.

To whom thus Jesus: also it is written, 560 Tempt not the Lord thy G.o.d, he said and stood.

But Satan smitten with amazement fell As when Earths Son Antaeus (to compare Small things with greatest) in Ira.s.sa strove With Joves Alcides and oft foil'd still rose, Receiving from his mother Earth new strength, Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joyn'd, Throttl'd at length in the Air, expir'd and fell; So after many a foil the Tempter proud, Renewing fresh a.s.saults, amidst his pride 570 Fell whence he stood to see his Victor fall.

And as that Theban Monster that propos'd Her riddle, and him, who solv'd it not, devour'd; That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spight Cast her self headlong from th' Ismenian steep, So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend, And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought Joyless triumphals of his hop't success, Ruin, and desperation, and dismay, Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of G.o.d. 580 So Satan fell and strait a fiery Globe Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh, Who on their plumy Vans receiv'd him soft From his uneasie station, and upbore As on a floating couch through the blithe Air, Then in a flowry valley set him down On a green bank, and set before him spred A table of Celestial Food, Divine, Ambrosial, Fruits fetcht from the tree of life, And from the fount of life Ambrosial drink, 590 That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd What hunger, if aught hunger had impair'd, Or thirst, and as he fed, Angelic Quires Sung Heavenly Anthems of his victory Over temptation, and the Tempter proud.

True Image of the Father whether thron'd In the bosom of bliss, and light of light Conceiving, or remote from Heaven, enshrin'd In fleshly Tabernacle, and human form, Wandring the Wilderness, whatever place, 600 Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing The Son of G.o.d, with G.o.dlike force indu'd Against th' Attempter of thy Fathers Throne, And Thief of Paradise; him long of old Thou didst debel, and down from Heav'n cast With all his Army, now thou hast aveng'd Supplanted Adam, and by vanquis.h.i.+ng Temptation, hast regain'd lost Paradise, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent: He never more henceforth will dare set foot 610 In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke: For though that seat of earthly bliss be fail'd, A fairer Paradise is founded now For Adam and his chosen Sons, whom thou A Saviour art come down to re-install.

Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be Of Tempter and Temptation without fear.

But thou, Infernal Serpent, shalt not long Rule in the Clouds; like an Autumnal Star Or Lightning thou shalt fall from Heav'n trod down 620 Under his feet: for proof, e're this thou feel'st Thy wound, yet not thy last and deadliest wound By this repulse receiv'd, and hold'st in h.e.l.l No triumph; in all her gates Abaddon rues Thy bold attempt; hereafter learn with awe To dread the Son of G.o.d: he all unarm'd Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice From thy Demoniac holds, possession foul, Thee and thy Legions, yelling they shall flye, And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine, 630 Lest he command them down into the deep Bound, and to torment sent before thir time.

Hail Son of the most High, heir of both worlds, Queller of Satan, on thy glorious work Now enter, and begin to save mankind.

Thus they the Son of G.o.d our Saviour meek Sung Victor, and from Heavenly Feast refresht Brought on his way with joy; hee un.o.bserv'd Home to his Mothers house private return'd.

The End.

Transcriber's Note: t.i.tle page of first edition of Samson Agonistes follows:

SAMSON AGONISTES, A DRAMATIC POEM.

------------------------------------------------------------ The Author JOHN MILTON ------------------------------------------------------------ Aristot. Poet. Cap. 6.

Tragedia mimeis praxeos spadaias, &c.

Tragedia est imitatio actionis seriae. &c. Per misericordiam & metum perficiens talium affectuum l.u.s.trationem.

------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ LONDON.

Printed by J.M. for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleetstreet, near Temple-Bar.

MDCLXXI

SAMSON AGONISTES

Of that sort of Dramatic Poem which is call'd Tragedy.

TRAGEDY, as it was antiently compos'd, hath been ever held the gravest, moralest, and most profitable of all other Poems: therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge the mind of those and such like pa.s.sions, that is to temper and reduce them to just measure with a kind of delight, stirr'd up by reading or seeing those pa.s.sions well imitated. Nor is Nature wanting in her own effects to make good his a.s.sertion: for so in Physic things of melancholic hue and quality are us'd against melancholy, sowr against sowr, salt to remove salt humours. Hence Philosophers and other gravest Writers, as Cicero, Plutarch and others, frequently cite out of Tragic Poets, both to adorn and ill.u.s.trate thir discourse. The Apostle Paul himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides into the Text of Holy Scripture, I Cor. 15. 33. and Paraeus commenting on the Revelation, divides the whole Book as a Tragedy, into Acts distinguisht each by a Chorus of Heavenly Harpings and Song between. Heretofore Men in highest dignity have labour'd not a little to be thought able to compose a Tragedy. Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less ambitious, then before of his attaining to the Tyranny. Augustus Caesar also had begun his Ajax, but unable to please his own judgment with what he had begun, left it unfinisht. Seneca the Philosopher is by some thought the Author of those Tragedies (at lest the best of them) that go under that name. Gregory n.a.z.ianzen a Father of the Church, thought it not unbeseeming the sanct.i.ty of his person to write a Tragedy which he ent.i.tl'd, Christ suffering. This is mention'd to vindicate Tragedy from the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it undergoes at this day with other common Interludes; hap'ning through the Poets error of intermixing Comic stuff with Tragic sadness and gravity; or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious hath bin counted absurd; and brought in without discretion, corruptly to gratifie the people. And though antient Tragedy use no Prologue, yet using sometimes, in case of self defence, or explanation, that which Martial calls an Epistle; in behalf of this Tragedy coming forth after the antient manner, much different from what among us pa.s.ses for best, thus much before-hand may be Epistl'd; that Chorus is here introduc'd after the Greek manner, not antient only but modern, and still in use among the Italians. In the modelling therefore of this Poem with good reason, the Antients and Italians are rather follow'd, as of much more authority and fame. The measure of Verse us'd in the Chorus is of all sorts, call'd by the Greeks Monostrophic, or rather Apolelymenon, without regard had to Strophe, Antistrophe or Epod, which were a kind of Stanza's fram'd only for the Music, then us'd with the Chorus that sung; not essential to the Poem, and therefore not material; or being divided into Stanza's or Pauses they may be call'd Allaeostropha. Division into Act and Scene referring chiefly to the Stage (to which this work never was intended) is here omitted.