2
MEANWHILE the new-baptized, who yet remained
3
At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen
4
Him whom they heard so late expressly called
5
Jesus Messiah, Son of God, declared,
6
And on that high authority had believed,
7
And with him talked, and with him lodged—I mean
8
Andrew and Simon, famous after known,
9
With others, though in Holy Writ not named—
10
Now missing him, their joy so lately found,
11
So lately found and so abruptly gone,
12
Began to doubt, and doubted many days,
13
And, as the days increased, increased their doubt.
14
Sometimes they thought he might be only shewn,
15
And for a time caught up to God, as once
16
Moses was in the Mount and missing long,
17
And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels
18
Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to come.
19
Therefore, as those young prophets then with care
20
Sought lost Eliah, so in each place these
21
Nigh to Bethabara—in Jericho
22
The city of palms, AEnon, and Salem old,
23
Machaerus, and each town or city walled
24
On this side the broad lake Genezaret,
25
Or in Peraea—but returned in vain.
26
Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,
27
Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play,
28
Plain fishermen (no greater men them call),
29
Close in a cottage low together got,
30
Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreathed:—
31
"Alas, from what high hope to what relapse
32
Unlooked for are we fallen! Our eyes beheld
33
Messiah certainly now come, so long
34
Expected of our fathers; we have heard
35
His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.
36
'Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand;
37
The kingdom shall to Israel be restored:'
38
Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned
39
Into perplexity and new amaze.
40
For whither is he gone? what accident
41
Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire
42
After appearance, and again prolong
43
Our expectation? God of Israel,
44
Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come.
45
Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress
46
Thy Chosen, to what highth their power unjust
47
They have exalted, and behind them cast
48
All fear of Thee; arise, and vindicate
49
Thy glory; free thy people from their yoke!
50
But let us wait; thus far He hath performed—
51
Sent his Anointed, and to us revealed him
52
By his great Prophet pointed at and shown
53
In public, and with him we have conversed.
54
Let us be glad of this, and all our fears
55
Lay on his providence; He will not fail,
56
Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall—
57
Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence:
58
Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return."
59
Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume
60
To find whom at the first they found unsought.
61
But to his mother Mary, when she saw
62
Others returned from baptism, not her Son,
63
Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none,
64
Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,
65
Motherly cares and fears got head, and raised
66
Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad:—
67
"Oh, what avails me now that honour high,
68
To have conceived of God, or that salute,
69
'Hail, highly favoured, among women blest!'
70
While I to sorrows am no less advanced,
71
And fears as eminent above the lot
72
Of other women, by the birth I bore:
73
In such a season born, when scarce a shed
74
Could be obtained to shelter him or me
75
From the bleak air? A stable was our warmth,
76
A manger his; yet soon enforced to fly
77
Thence into Egypt, till the murderous king
78
Were dead, who sought his life, and, missing, filled
79
With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem.
80
From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth
81
Hath been our dwelling many years; his life
82
Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,
83
Little suspicious to any king. But now,
84
Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I hear,
85
By John the Baptist, and in public shewn,
86
Son owned from Heaven by his Father's voice,
87
I looked for some great change. To honour? no;
88
But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,
89
That to the fall and rising he should be
90
Of many in Israel, and to a sign
91
Spoken against—that through my very soul
92
A sword shall pierce. This is my favoured lot,
93
My exaltation to afflictions high!
94
Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest!
95
I will not argue that, nor will repine.
96
But where delays he now? Some great intent
97
Conceals him. When twelve years he scarce had seen,
98
I lost him, but so found as well I saw
99
He could not lose himself, but went about
100
His Father's business. What he meant I mused—
101
Since understand; much more his absence now
102
Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.
103
But I to wait with patience am inured;
104
My heart hath been a storehouse long of things
105
And sayings laid up, pretending strange events."
106
Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind
107
Recalling what remarkably had passed
108
Since first her Salutation heard, with thoughts
109
Meekly composed awaited the fulfilling:
110
The while her Son, tracing the desert wild,
111
Sole, but with holiest meditations fed,
112
Into himself descended, and at once
113
All his great work to come before him set—
114
How to begin, how to accomplish best
115
His end of being on Earth, and mission high.
116
For Satan, with sly preface to return,
117
Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone
118
Up to the middle region of thick air,
119
Where all his Potentates in council sate.
120
There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy,
121
Solicitous and blank, he thus began:—
122
"Princes, Heaven's ancient Sons, AEthereal Thrones—
123
Daemonian Spirits now, from the element
124
Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called
125
Powers of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth beneath
126
(So may we hold our place and these mild seats
127
Without new trouble!)—such an enemy
128
Is risen to invade us, who no less
129
Threatens than our expulsion down to Hell.
130
I, as I undertook, and with the vote
131
Consenting in full frequence was impowered,
132
Have found him, viewed him, tasted him; but find
133
Far other labour to be undergone
134
Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men,
135
Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell,
136
However to this Man inferior far—
137
If he be Man by mother's side, at least
138
With more than human gifts from Heaven adorned,
139
Perfections absolute, graces divine,
140
And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.
141
Therefore I am returned, lest confidence
142
Of my success with Eve in Paradise
143
Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure
144
Of like succeeding here. I summon all
145
Rather to be in readiness with hand
146
Or counsel to assist, lest I, who erst
147
Thought none my equal, now be overmatched."
148
So spake the old Serpent, doubting, and from all
149
With clamour was assured their utmost aid
150
At his command; when from amidst them rose
151
Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell,
152
The sensualest, and, after Asmodai,
153
The fleshliest Incubus, and thus advised:—
154
"Set women in his eye and in his walk,
155
Among daughters of men the fairest found.
156
Many are in each region passing fair
157
As the noon sky, more like to goddesses
158
Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,
159
Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues
160
Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild
161
And sweet allayed, yet terrible to approach,
162
Skilled to retire, and in retiring draw
163
Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets.
164
Such object hath the power to soften and tame
165
Severest temper, smooth the rugged'st brow,
166
Enerve, and with voluptuous hope dissolve,
167
Draw out with credulous desire, and lead
168
At will the manliest, resolutest breast,
169
As the magnetic hardest iron draws.
170
Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart
171
Of wisest Solomon, and made him build,
172
And made him bow, to the gods of his wives."
173
To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:—
174
"Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st
175
All others by thyself. Because of old
176
Thou thyself doat'st on womankind, admiring
177
Their shape, their colour, and attractive grace,
178
None are, thou think'st, but taken with such toys.
179
Before the Flood, thou, with thy lusty crew,
180
False titled Sons of God, roaming the Earth,
181
Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men,
182
And coupled with them, and begot a race.
183
Have we not seen, or by relation heard,
184
In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st,
185
In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side,
186
In valley or green meadow, to waylay
187
Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene,
188
Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa,
189
Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more
190
Too long—then lay'st thy scapes on names adored,
191
Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,
192
Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan? But these haunts
193
Delight not all. Among the sons of men
194
How many have with a smile made small account
195
Of beauty and her lures, easily scorned
196
All her assaults, on worthier things intent!
197
Remember that Pellean conqueror,
198
A youth, how all the beauties of the East
199
He slightly viewed, and slightly overpassed;
200
How he surnamed of Africa dismissed,
201
In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid.
202
For Solomon, he lived at ease, and, full
203
Of honour, wealth, high fare, aimed not beyond
204
Higher design than to enjoy his state;
205
Thence to the bait of women lay exposed.
206
But he whom we attempt is wiser far
207
Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,
208
Made and set wholly on the accomplishment
209
Of greatest things. What woman will you find,
210
Though of this age the wonder and the fame,
211
On whom his leisure will voutsafe an eye
212
Of fond desire? Or should she, confident,
213
As sitting queen adored on Beauty's throne,
214
Descend with all her winning charms begirt
215
To enamour, as the zone of Venus once
216
Wrought that effect on Jove (so fables tell),
217
How would one look from his majestic brow,
218
Seated as on the top of Virtue's hill,
219
Discountenance her despised, and put to rout
220
All her array, her female pride deject,
221
Or turn to reverent awe! For Beauty stands
222
In the admiration only of weak minds
223
Led captive; cease to admire, and all her plumes
224
Fall flat, and shrink into a trivial toy,
225
At every sudden slighting quite abashed.
226
Therefore with manlier objects we must try
227
His constancy—with such as have more shew
228
Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise
229
(Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked);
230
Or that which only seems to satisfy
231
Lawful desires of nature, not beyond.
232
And now I know he hungers, where no food
233
Is to be found, in the wide Wilderness:
234
The rest commit to me; I shall let pass
235
No advantage, and his strength as oft assay."
236
He ceased, and heard their grant in loud acclaim;
237
Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band
238
Of Spirits likest to himself in guile,
239
To be at hand and at his beck appear,
240
If cause were to unfold some active scene
241
Of various persons, each to know his part;
242
Then to the desert takes with these his flight,
243
Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God,
244
After forty days' fasting, had remained,
245
Now hungering first, and to himself thus said:—
246
"Where will this end? Four times ten days I have passed
247
Wandering this woody maze, and human food
248
Nor tasted, nor had appetite. That fast
249
To virtue I impute not, or count part
250
Of what I suffer here. If nature need not,
251
Or God support nature without repast,
252
Though needing, what praise is it to endure?
253
But now I feel I hunger; which declares
254
Nature hath need of what she asks. Yet God
255
Can satisfy that need some other way,
256
Though hunger still remain. So it remain
257
Without this body's wasting, I content me,
258
And from the sting of famine fear no harm;
259
Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed
260
Me hungering more to do my Father's will."
261
It was the hour of night, when thus the Son
262
Communed in silent walk, then laid him down
263
Under the hospitable covert nigh
264
Of trees thick interwoven. There he slept,
265
And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,
266
Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet.
267
Him thought he by the brook of Cherith stood,
268
And saw the ravens with their horny beaks
269
Food to Elijah bringing even and morn—
270
Though ravenous, taught to abstain from what they brought;
271
He saw the Prophet also, how he fled
272
Into the desert, and how there he slept
273
Under a juniper—then how, awaked,
274
He found his supper on the coals prepared,
275
And by the Angel was bid rise and eat,
276
And eat the second time after repose,
277
The strength whereof sufficed him forty days:
278
Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,
279
Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.
280
Thus wore out night; and now the harald Lark
281
Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry
282
The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song.
283
As lightly from his grassy couch up rose
284
Our Saviour, and found all was but a dream;
285
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
286
Up to a hill anon his steps he reared,
287
From whose high top to ken the prospect round,
288
If cottage were in view, sheep-cote, or herd;
289
But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote, none he saw—
290
Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,
291
With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud.
292
Thither he bent his way, determined there
293
To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade
294
High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,
295
That opened in the midst a woody scene;
296
Nature's own work it seemed (Nature taught Art),
297
And, to a superstitious eye, the haunt
298
Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs. He viewed it round;
299
When suddenly a man before him stood,
300
Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,
301
As one in city or court or palace bred,
302
And with fair speech these words to him addressed:—
303
"With granted leave officious I return,
304
But much more wonder that the Son of God
305
In this wild solitude so long should bide,
306
Of all things destitute, and, well I know,
307
Not without hunger. Others of some note,
308
As story tells, have trod this wilderness:
309
The fugitive Bond-woman, with her son,
310
Outcast Nebaioth, yet found here relief
311
By a providing Angel; all the race
312
Of Israel here had famished, had not God
313
Rained from heaven manna; and that Prophet bold,
314
Native of Thebez, wandering here, was fed
315
Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.
316
Of thee those forty days none hath regard,
317
Forty and more deserted here indeed."
318
To whom thus Jesus:—"What conclud'st thou hence?
319
They all had need; I, as thou seest, have none."
320
"How hast thou hunger then?" Satan replied.
321
"Tell me, if food were now before thee set,
322
Wouldst thou not eat?" "Thereafter as I like
323
the giver," answered Jesus. "Why should that
324
Cause thy refusal?" said the subtle Fiend.
325
"Hast thou not right to all created things?
326
Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee
327
Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,
328
But tender all their power? Nor mention I
329
Meats by the law unclean, or offered first
330
To idols—those young Daniel could refuse;
331
Nor proffered by an enemy—though who
332
Would scruple that, with want oppressed? Behold,
333
Nature ashamed, or, better to express,
334
Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath purveyed
335
From all the elements her choicest store,
336
To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord
337
With honour. Only deign to sit and eat."
338
He spake no dream; for, as his words had end,
339
Our Saviour, lifting up his eyes, beheld,
340
In ample space under the broadest shade,
341
A table richly spread in regal mode,
342
With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort
343
And savour—beasts of chase, or fowl of game,
344
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boiled,
345
Grisamber-steamed; all fish, from sea or shore,
346
Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,
347
And exquisitest name, for which was drained
348
Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.
349
Alas! how simple, to these cates compared,
350
Was that crude Apple that diverted Eve!
351
And at a stately sideboard, by the wine,
352
That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood
353
Tall stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
354
Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more,
355
Under the trees now tripped, now solemn stood,
356
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades
357
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,
358
And ladies of the Hesperides, that seemed
359
Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since
360
Of faery damsels met in forest wide
361
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,
362
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.
363
And all the while harmonious airs were heard
364
Of chiming strings or charming pipes; and winds
365
Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned
366
From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.
367
Such was the splendour; and the Tempter now
368
His invitation earnestly renewed:—
369
"What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?
370
These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict
371
Defends the touching of these viands pure;
372
Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,
373
But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,
374
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.
375
All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and springs,
376
Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay
377
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord.
378
What doubt'st thou, Son of God? Sit down and eat."
379
To whom thus Jesus temperately replied:—
380
"Said'st thou not that to all things I had right?
381
And who withholds my power that right to use?
382
Shall I receive by gift what of my own,
383
When and where likes me best, I can command?
384
I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,
385
Command a table in this wilderness,
386
And call swift flights of Angels ministrant,
387
Arrayed in glory, on my cup to attend:
388
Why shouldst thou, then, obtrude this diligence
389
In vain, where no acceptance it can find?
390
And with my hunger what hast thou to do?
391
Thy pompous delicacies I contemn,
392
And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles."
393
To whom thus answered Satan, male-content:—
394
"That I have also power to give thou seest;
395
If of that power I bring thee voluntary
396
What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,
397
And rather opportunely in this place
398
Chose to impart to thy apparent need,
399
Why shouldst thou not accept it? But I see
400
What I can do or offer is suspect.
401
Of these things others quickly will dispose,
402
Whose pains have earned the far-fet spoil." With that
403
Both table and provision vanished quite,
404
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard;
405
Only the importune Tempter still remained,
406
And with these words his temptation pursued:—
407
"By hunger, that each other creature tames,
408
Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved;
409
Thy temperance, invincible besides,
410
For no allurement yields to appetite;
411
And all thy heart is set on high designs,
412
High actions. But wherewith to be achieved?
413
Great acts require great means of enterprise;
414
Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,
415
A carpenter thy father known, thyself
416
Bred up in poverty and straits at home,
417
Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit.
418
Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire
419
To greatness? whence authority deriv'st?
420
What followers, what retinue canst thou gain,
421
Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,
422
Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
423
Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms.
424
What raised Antipater the Edomite,
425
And his son Herod placed on Juda's throne,
426
Thy throne, but gold, that got him puissant friends?
427
Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,
428
Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap—
429
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.
430
Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;
431
They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,
432
While virtue, valour, wisdom, sit in want."
433
To whom thus Jesus patiently replied:—
434
"Yet wealth without these three is impotent
435
To gain dominion, or to keep it gained—
436
Witness those ancient empires of the earth,
437
In highth of all their flowing wealth dissolved;
438
But men endued with these have oft attained,
439
In lowest poverty, to highest deeds—
440
Gideon, and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad
441
Whose offspring on the throne of Juda sate
442
So many ages, and shall yet regain
443
That seat, and reign in Israel without end.
444
Among the Heathen (for throughout the world
445
To me is not unknown what hath been done
446
Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember
447
Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?
448
For I esteem those names of men so poor,
449
Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
450
Riches, though offered from the hand of kings.
451
And what in me seems wanting but that I
452
May also in this poverty as soon
453
Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?
454
Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools,
455
The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare; more apt
456
To slacken virtue and abate her edge
457
Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise.
458
What if with like aversion I reject
459
Riches and realms! Yet not for that a crown,
460
Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns,
461
Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights,
462
To him who wears the regal diadem,
463
When on his shoulders each man's burden lies;
464
For therein stands the office of a king,
465
His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise,
466
That for the public all this weight he bears.
467
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
468
Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king—
469
Which every wise and virtuous man attains;
470
And who attains not, ill aspires to rule
471
Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,
472
Subject himself to anarchy within,
473
Or lawless passions in him, which he serves.
474
But to guide nations in the way of truth
475
By saving doctrine, and from error lead
476
To know, and, knowing, worship God aright,
477
Is yet more kingly. This attracts the soul,
478
Governs the inner man, the nobler part;
479
That other o'er the body only reigns,
480
And oft by force—which to a generous mind
481
So reigning can be no sincere delight.
482
Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought
483
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
484
Far more magnanimous, than to assume.
485
Riches are needless, then, both for themselves,
486
And for thy reason why they should be sought—
487
To gain a sceptre, oftest better missed."
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