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I, WHO erewhile the happy Garden sung
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By one man's disobedience lost, now sing
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Recovered Paradise to all mankind,
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By one man's firm obedience fully tried
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Through all temptation, and the Tempter foiled
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In all his wiles, defeated and repulsed,
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And Eden raised in the waste Wilderness.
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Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious Eremite
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Into the desert, his victorious field
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Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence
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By proof the undoubted Son of God, inspire,
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As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute,
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And bear through highth or depth of Nature's bounds,
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With prosperous wing full summed, to tell of deeds
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Above heroic, though in secret done,
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And unrecorded left through many an age:
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Worthy to have not remained so long unsung.
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Now had the great Proclaimer, with a voice
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More awful than the sound of trumpet, cried
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Repentance, and Heaven's kingdom nigh at hand
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To all baptized. To his great baptism flocked
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With awe the regions round, and with them came
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From Nazareth the son of Joseph deemed
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To the flood Jordan—came as then obscure,
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Unmarked, unknown. But him the Baptist soon
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Descried, divinely warned, and witness bore
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As to his worthier, and would have resigned
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To him his heavenly office. Nor was long
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His witness unconfirmed: on him baptized
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Heaven opened, and in likeness of a Dove
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The Spirit descended, while the Father's voice
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From Heaven pronounced him his beloved Son.
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That heard the Adversary, who, roving still
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About the world, at that assembly famed
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Would not be last, and, with the voice divine
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Nigh thunder-struck, the exalted man to whom
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Such high attest was given a while surveyed
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With wonder; then, with envy fraught and rage,
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Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air
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To council summons all his mighty Peers,
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Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved,
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A gloomy consistory; and them amidst,
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With looks aghast and sad, he thus bespake:—
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"O ancient Powers of Air and this wide World
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(For much more willingly I mention Air,
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This our old conquest, than remember Hell,
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Our hated habitation), well ye know
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How many ages, as the years of men,
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This Universe we have possessed, and ruled
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In manner at our will the affairs of Earth,
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Since Adam and his facile consort Eve
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Lost Paradise, deceived by me, though since
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With dread attending when that fatal wound
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Shall be inflicted by the seed of Eve
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Upon my head. Long the decrees of Heaven
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Delay, for longest time to Him is short;
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And now, too soon for us, the circling hours
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This dreaded time have compassed, wherein we
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Must bide the stroke of that long-threatened wound
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(At least, if so we can, and by the head
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Broken be not intended all our power
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To be infringed, our freedom and our being
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In this fair empire won of Earth and Air)—
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For this ill news I bring: The Woman's Seed,
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Destined to this, is late of woman born.
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His birth to our just fear gave no small cause;
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But his growth now to youth's full flower, displaying
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All virtue, grace and wisdom to achieve
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Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear.
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Before him a great Prophet, to proclaim
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His coming, is sent harbinger, who all
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Invites, and in the consecrated stream
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Pretends to wash off sin, and fit them so
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Purified to receive him pure, or rather
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To do him honour as their King. All come,
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And he himself among them was baptized—
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Not thence to be more pure, but to receive
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The testimony of Heaven, that who he is
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Thenceforth the nations may not doubt. I saw
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The Prophet do him reverence; on him, rising
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Out of the water, Heaven above the clouds
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Unfold her crystal doors; thence on his head
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A perfet Dove descend (whate'er it meant);
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And out of Heaven the sovraign voice I heard,
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'This is my Son beloved,—in him am pleased.'
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His mother, than, is mortal, but his Sire
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He who obtains the monarchy of Heaven;
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And what will He not do to advance his Son?
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His first-begot we know, and sore have felt,
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When his fierce thunder drove us to the Deep;
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Who this is we must learn, for Man he seems
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In all his lineaments, though in his face
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The glimpses of his Father's glory shine.
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Ye see our danger on the utmost edge
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Of hazard, which admits no long debate,
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But must with something sudden be opposed
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(Not force, but well-couched fraud, well-woven snares),
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Ere in the head of nations he appear,
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Their king, their leader, and supreme on Earth.
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I, when no other durst, sole undertook
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The dismal expedition to find out
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And ruin Adam, and the exploit performed
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Successfully: a calmer voyage now
108
Will waft me; and the way found prosperous once
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Induces best to hope of like success."
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He ended, and his words impression left
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Of much amazement to the infernal crew,
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Distracted and surprised with deep dismay
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At these sad tidings. But no time was then
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For long indulgence to their fears or grief:
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Unanimous they all commit the care
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And management of this man enterprise
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To him, their great Dictator, whose attempt
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At first against mankind so well had thrived
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In Adam's overthrow, and led their march
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From Hell's deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,
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Regents, and potentates, and kings, yea gods,
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Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
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So to the coast of Jordan he directs
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His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles,
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Where he might likeliest find this new-declared,
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This man of men, attested Son of God,
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Temptation and all guile on him to try—
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So to subvert whom he suspected raised
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To end his reign on Earth so long enjoyed:
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But, contrary, unweeting he fulfilled
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The purposed counsel, pre-ordained and fixed,
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Of the Most High, who, in full frequence bright
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Of Angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake:—
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"Gabriel, this day, by proof, thou shalt behold,
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Thou and all Angels conversant on Earth
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With Man or men's affairs, how I begin
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To verify that solemn message late,
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On which I sent thee to the Virgin pure
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In Galilee, that she should bear a son,
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Great in renown, and called the Son of God.
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Then told'st her, doubting how these things could be
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To her a virgin, that on her should come
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The Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest
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O'ershadow her. This Man, born and now upgrown,
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To shew him worthy of his birth divine
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And high prediction, henceforth I expose
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To Satan; let him tempt, and now assay
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His utmost subtlety, because he boasts
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And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng
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Of his Apostasy. He might have learnt
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Less overweening, since he failed in Job,
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Whose constant perseverance overcame
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Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.
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He now shall know I can produce a man,
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Of female seed, far abler to resist
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All his solicitations, and at length
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All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell—
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Winning by conquest what the first man lost
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By fallacy surprised. But first I mean
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To exercise him in the Wilderness;
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There he shall first lay down the rudiments
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Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
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To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes.
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By humiliation and strong sufferance
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His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength,
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And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;
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That all the Angels and aethereal Powers—
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They now, and men hereafter—may discern
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From what consummate virtue I have chose
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This perfet man, by merit called my Son,
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To earn salvation for the sons of men."
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So spake the Eternal Father, and all Heaven
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Admiring stood a space; then into hymns
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Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved,
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Circling the throne and singing, while the hand
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Sung with the voice, and this the argument:—
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"Victory and triumph to the Son of God,
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Now entering his great duel, not of arms,
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But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles!
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The Father knows the Son; therefore secure
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Ventures his filial virtue, though untried,
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Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er seduce,
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Allure, or terrify, or undermine.
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Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell,
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And, devilish machinations, come to nought!"
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So they in Heaven their odes and vigils tuned.
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Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days
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Lodged in Bethabara, where John baptized,
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Musing and much revolving in his breast
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How best the mighty work he might begin
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Of Saviour to mankind, and which way first
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Publish his godlike office now mature,
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One day forth walked alone, the Spirit leading
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And his deep thoughts, the better to converse
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With solitude, till, far from track of men,
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Thought following thought, and step by step led on,
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He entered now the bordering Desert wild,
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And, with dark shades and rocks environed round,
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His holy meditations thus pursued:—
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"O what a multitude of thoughts at once
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Awakened in me swarm, while I consider
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What from within I feel myself, and hear
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What from without comes often to my ears,
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Ill sorting with my present state compared!
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When I was yet a child, no childish play
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To me was pleasing; all my mind was set
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Serious to learn and know, and thence to do,
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What might be public good; myself I thought
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Born to that end, born to promote all truth,
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All righteous things. Therefore, above my years,
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The Law of God I read, and found it sweet;
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Made it my whole delight, and in it grew
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To such perfection that, ere yet my age
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Had measured twice six years, at our great Feast
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I went into the Temple, there to hear
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The teachers of our Law, and to propose
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What might improve my knowledge or their own,
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And was admired by all. Yet this not all
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To which my spirit aspired. Victorious deeds
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Flamed in my heart, heroic acts—one while
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To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke;
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Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth,
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Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,
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Till truth were freed, and equity restored:
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Yet held it more humane, more heavenly, first
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By winning words to conquer willing hearts,
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And make persuasion do the work of fear;
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At least to try, and teach the erring soul,
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Not wilfully misdoing, but unware
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Misled; the stubborn only to subdue.
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These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving,
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By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced,
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And said to me apart, 'High are thy thoughts,
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O Son! but nourish them, and let them soar
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To what highth sacred virtue and true worth
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Can raise them, though above example high;
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By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire.
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For know, thou art no son of mortal man;
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Though men esteem thee low of parentage,
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Thy Father is the Eternal King who rules
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All Heaven and Earth, Angels and sons of men.
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A messenger from God foretold thy birth
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Conceived in me a virgin; he foretold
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Thou shouldst be great, and sit on David's throne,
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And of thy kingdom there should be no end.
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At thy nativity a glorious quire
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Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung
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To shepherds, watching at their folds by night,
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And told them the Messiah now was born,
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Where they might see him; and to thee they came,
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Directed to the manger where thou lay'st;
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For in the inn was left no better room.
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A Star, not seen before, in heaven appearing,
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Guided the Wise Men thither from the East,
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To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and gold;
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By whose bright course led on they found the place,
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Affirming it thy star, new-graven in heaven,
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By which they knew thee King of Israel born.
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Just Simeon and prophetic Anna, warned
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By vision, found thee in the Temple, and spake,
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Before the altar and the vested priest,
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Like things of thee to all that present stood.'
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This having heart, straight I again revolved
264
The Law and Prophets, searching what was writ
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Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes
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Known partly, and soon found of whom they spake
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I am—this chiefly, that my way must lie
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Through many a hard assay, even to the death,
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Ere I the promised kingdom can attain,
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Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins'
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Full weight must be transferred upon my head.
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Yet, neither thus disheartened or dismayed,
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The time prefixed I waited; when behold
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The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard,
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Not knew by sight) now come, who was to come
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Before Messiah, and his way prepare!
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I, as all others, to his baptism came,
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Which I believed was from above; but he
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Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed
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Me him (for it was shewn him so from Heaven)—
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Me him whose harbinger he was; and first
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Refused on me his baptism to confer,
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As much his greater, and was hardly won.
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But, as I rose out of the laving stream,
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Heaven opened her eternal doors, from whence
286
The Spirit descended on me like a Dove;
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And last, the sum of all, my Father's voice,
288
Audibly heard from Heaven, pronounced me his,
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Me his beloved Son, in whom alone
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He was well pleased: by which I knew the time
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Now full, that I no more should live obscure,
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But openly begin, as best becomes
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The authority which I derived from Heaven.
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And now by some strong motion I am led
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Into this wilderness; to what intent
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I learn not yet. Perhaps I need not know;
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For what concerns my knowledge God reveals."
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So spake our Morning Star, then in his rise,
299
And, looking round, on every side beheld
300
A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.
301
The way he came, not having marked return,
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Was difficult, by human steps untrod;
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And he still on was led, but with such thoughts
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Accompanied of things past and to come
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Lodged in his breast as well might recommend
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Such solitude before choicest society.
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Full forty days he passed—whether on hill
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Sometimes, anon in shady vale, each night
309
Under the covert of some ancient oak
310
Or cedar to defend him from the dew,
311
Or harboured in one cave, is not revealed;
312
Nor tasted human food, nor hunger felt,
313
Till those days ended; hungered then at last
314
Among wild beasts. They at his sight grew mild,
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Nor sleeping him nor waking harmed; his walk
316
The fiery serpent fled and noxious worm;
317
The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.
318
But now an aged man in rural weeds,
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Following, as seemed, the quest of some stray eye,
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Or withered sticks to gather, which might serve
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Against a winter's day, when winds blow keen,
322
To warm him wet returned from field at eve,
323
He saw approach; who first with curious eye
324
Perused him, then with words thus uttered spake:—
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"Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place,
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So far from path or road of men, who pass
327
In troop or caravan? for single none
328
Durst ever, who returned, and dropt not here
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His carcass, pined with hunger and with droughth.
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I ask the rather, and the more admire,
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For that to me thou seem'st the man whom late
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Our new baptizing Prophet at the ford
333
Of Jordan honoured so, and called thee Son
334
Of God. I saw and heard, for we sometimes
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Who dwell this wild, constrained by want, come forth
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To town or village nigh (nighest is far),
337
Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear,
338
What happens new; fame also finds us out."
339
To whom the Son of God:—"Who brought me hither
340
Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek."
341
"By miracle he may," replied the swain;
342
"What other way I see not; for we here
343
Live on tough roots and stubs, to thirst inured
344
More than the camel, and to drink go far—
345
Men to much misery and hardship born.
346
But, if thou be the Son of God, command
347
That out of these hard stones be made thee bread;
348
So shalt thou save thyself, and us relieve
349
With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste."
350
He ended, and the Son of God replied:—
351
"Think'st thou such force in bread? Is it not written
352
(For I discern thee other than thou seem'st),
353
Man lives not by bread only, but each word
354
Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed
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Our fathers here with manna? In the Mount
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Moses was forty days, nor eat nor drank;
357
And forty days Eliah without food
358
Wandered this barren waste; the same I now.
359
Why dost thou, then, suggest to me distrust
360
Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"
361
Whom thus answered the Arch-Fiend, now undisguised:—
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"'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate
363
Who, leagued with millions more in rash revolt,
364
Kept not my happy station, but was driven
365
With them from bliss to the bottomless Deep—
366
Yet to that hideous place not so confined
367
By rigour unconniving but that oft,
368
Leaving my dolorous prison, I enjoy
369
Large liberty to round this globe of Earth,
370
Or range in the Air; nor from the Heaven of Heavens
371
Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.
372
I came, among the Sons of God, when he
373
Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job,
374
To prove him, and illustrate his high worth;
375
And, when to all his Angels he proposed
376
To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud,
377
That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,
378
I undertook that office, and the tongues
379
Of all his flattering prophets glibbed with lies
380
To his destruction, as I had in charge:
381
For what he bids I do. Though I have lost
382
Much lustre of my native brightness, lost
383
To be beloved of God, I have not lost
384
To love, at least contemplate and admire,
385
What I see excellent in good, or fair,
386
Or virtuous; I should so have lost all sense.
387
What can be then less in me than desire
388
To see thee and approach thee, whom I know
389
Declared the Son of God, to hear attent
390
Thy wisdom, and behold thy godlike deeds?
391
Men generally think me much a foe
392
To all mankind. Why should I? they to me
393
Never did wrong or violence. By them
394
I lost not what I lost; rather by them
395
I gained what I have gained, and with them dwell
396
Copartner in these regions of the World,
397
If not disposer—lend them oft my aid,
398
Oft my advice by presages and signs,
399
And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,
400
Whereby they may direct their future life.
401
Envy, they say, excites me, thus to gain
402
Companions of my misery and woe!
403
At first it may be; but, long since with woe
404
Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof
405
That fellowship in pain divides not smart,
406
Nor lightens aught each man's peculiar load;
407
Small consolation, then, were Man adjoined.
408
This wounds me most (what can it less?) that Man,
409
Man fallen, shall be restored, I never more."
410
To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied:—
411
"Deservedly thou griev'st, composed of lies
412
From the beginning, and in lies wilt end,
413
Who boast'st release from Hell, and leave to come
414
Into the Heaven of Heavens. Thou com'st, indeed,
415
As a poor miserable captive thrall
416
Comes to the place where he before had sat
417
Among the prime in splendour, now deposed,
418
Ejected, emptied, gazed, unpitied, shunned,
419
A spectacle of ruin, or of scorn,
420
To all the host of Heaven. The happy place
421
Imparts to thee no happiness, no joy—
422
Rather inflames thy torment, representing
423
Lost bliss, to thee no more communicable;
424
So never more in Hell than when in Heaven.
425
But thou art serviceable to Heaven's King!
426
Wilt thou impute to obedience what thy fear
427
Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites?
428
What but thy malice moved thee to misdeem
429
Of righteous Job, then cruelly to afflict him
430
With all inflictions? but his patience won.
431
The other service was thy chosen task,
432
To be a liar in four hundred mouths;
433
For lying is thy sustenance, thy food.
434
Yet thou pretend'st to truth! all oracles
435
By thee are given, and what confessed more true
436
Among the nations? That hath been thy craft,
437
By mixing somewhat true to vent more lies.
438
But what have been thy answers? what but dark,
439
Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding,
440
Which they who asked have seldom understood,
441
And, not well understood, as good not known?
442
Who ever, by consulting at thy shrine,
443
Returned the wiser, or the more instruct
444
To fly or follow what concerned him most,
445
And run not sooner to his fatal snare?
446
For God hath justly given the nations up
447
To thy delusions; justly, since they fell
448
Idolatrous. But, when his purpose is
449
Among them to declare his providence,
450
To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth,
451
But from him, or his Angels president
452
In every province, who, themselves disdaining
453
To approach thy temples, give thee in command
454
What, to the smallest tittle, thou shalt say
455
To thy adorers? Thou, with trembling fear,
456
Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st;
457
Then to thyself ascrib'st the truth foretold.
458
But this thy glory shall be soon retrenched;
459
No more shalt thou by oracling abuse
460
The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceased,
461
And thou no more with pomp and sacrifice
462
Shalt be enquired at Delphos or elsewhere—
463
At least in vain, for they shall find thee mute.
464
God hath now sent his living Oracle
465
Into the world to teach his final will,
466
And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell
467
In pious hearts, an inward oracle
468
To all truth requisite for men to know."
469
So spake our Saviour; but the subtle Fiend,
470
Though inly stung with anger and disdain,
471
Dissembled, and this answer smooth returned:—
472
"Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke,
473
And urged me hard with doings which not will,
474
But misery, hath wrested from me. Where
475
Easily canst thou find one miserable,
476
And not inforced oft-times to part from truth,
477
If it may stand him more in stead to lie,
478
Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure?
479
But thou art placed above me; thou art Lord;
480
From thee I can, and must, submiss, endure
481
Cheek or reproof, and glad to scape so quit.
482
Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk,
483
Smooth on the tongue discoursed, pleasing to the ear,
484
And tunable as sylvan pipe or song;
485
What wonder, then, if I delight to hear
486
Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire
487
Virtue who follow not her lore. Permit me
488
To hear thee when I come (since no man comes),
489
And talk at least, though I despair to attain.
490
Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure,
491
Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest
492
To tread his sacred courts, and minister
493
About his altar, handling holy things,
494
Praying or vowing, and voutsafed his voice
495
To Balaam reprobate, a prophet yet
496
Inspired: disdain not such access to me."
497
To whom our Saviour, with unaltered brow:—
498
"Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,
499
I bid not, or forbid. Do as thou find'st
500
Permission from above; thou canst not more."
501
He added not; and Satan, bowling low
502
His gray dissimulation, disappeared,
503
Into thin air diffused: for now began
504
Night with her sullen wing to double-shade
505
The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couched;
506
And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.
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