Paradise Regained - The Third Book

So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood     A while as mute confounded what to say,     What to reply, confuted and convinct     Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift;     At length collecting all his Serpent wiles,     With soothing words renewd, him thus accosts.     I see thou knowst what is of use to know,     What best to say canst say, to do canst do;     Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words     To thy large heart give utterance due, thy heart     Conteins of good, wise, just, the perfect shape.     Should Kings and Nations from thy mouth consult,     Thy Counsel would be as the Oracle     Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems     On Aarons breast: or tongue of Seers old     Infallible; or wert thou sought to deeds     That might require th array of war, thy skill     Of conduct would be such, that all the world     Could not sustain thy Prowess, or subsist     In battel, though against thy few in arms.     These God-like Vertues wherefore dost thou hide?     Affecting private life, or more obscure     In savage Wilderness, wherefore deprive     All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thy self     The fame and glory, glory the reward     That sole excites to high attempts the flame     Of most erected Spirits, most temperd pure     therial, who all pleasures else despise,     All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,     And dignities and powers all but the highest?     Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe, the Son     Of Macedonian Philip had ere these     Won Asia and the Throne of Cyrus held     At his dispose, young Scipio had brought down     The Carthaginian pride, young Pompey quelld     The Pontic King and in triumph had rode.     Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,     Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.     Great Julius, whom now all the world admires     The more he grew in years, the more inflamd     With glory, wept that he had livd so long     Inglorious: but thou yet art not too late.     To whom our Saviour calmly thus replyd.     Thou neither dost perswade me to seek wealth     For Empires sake, nor Empire to affect     For glories sake by all thy argument.     For what is glory but the blaze of fame,     The peoples praise, if always praise unmixt?     And what the people but a herd confusd,     A miscellaneous rabble, who extol     Things vulgar, & well weighd, scarce worth the praise,     They praise and they admire they know not what;     And know not whom, but as one leads the other;     And what delight to be by such extolld,     To live upon thir tongues and be thir talk,     Of whom to be dispraisd were no small praise?     His lot who dares be singularly good.     Th intelligent among them and the wise     Are few, and glory scarce of few is raisd.     This is true glory and renown, when God     Looking on the Earth, with approbation marks     The just man, and divulges him through Heaven     To all his Angels, who with true applause     Recount his praises; thus he did to Job,     When to extend his fame through Heaven & Earth,     As thou to thy reproach mayst well remember,     He askd thee, hast thou seen my servant Job?     Famous he was in Heaven, on Earth less known;     Where glory is false glory, attributed     To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame.     They err who count it glorious to subdue     By Conquest far and wide, to over-run     Large Countries, and in field great Battels win,     Great Cities by assault: what do these Worthies,     But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave     Peaceable Nations, neighbouring, or remote,     Made Captive, yet deserving freedom more     Then those thir Conquerours, who leave behind     Nothing but ruin wheresoere they rove,     And all the flourishing works of peace destroy,     Then swell with pride, and must be titld Gods,     Great Benefactors of mankind, Deliverers,     Worshipt with Temple, Priest and Sacrifice;     One is the Son of Jove, of Mars the other,     Till Conquerour Death discover them scarce men,     Rowling in brutish vices, and deformd,     Violent or shameful death thir due reward.     But if there be in glory aught of good,     It may by means far different be attaind     Without ambition, war, or violence;     By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,     By patience, temperance; I mention still     Him whom thy wrongs with Saintly patience born,     Made famous in a Land and times obscure;     Who names not now with honour patient Job?     Poor Socrates (who next more memorable?)     By what he taught and sufferd for so doing,     For truths sake suffering death unjust, lives now     Equal in fame to proudest Conquerours.     Yet if for fame and glory aught be done,     Aught sufferd; if young African for fame     His wasted Country freed from Punic rage,     The deed becomes unpraisd, the man at least,     And loses, though but verbal, his reward.     Shall I seek glory then, as vain men seek     Oft not deservd? I seek not mine, but his     Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am.     To whom the Tempter murmuring thus replyd.     Think not so slight of glory; therein least     Resembling thy great Father: he seeks glory,     And for his glory all things made, all things     Orders and governs, nor content in Heaven     By all his Angels glorifid, requires     Glory from men, from all men good or bad,     Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption;     Above all Sacrifice, or hallowd gift     Glory he requires, and glory he receives     Promiscuous from all Nations, Jew, or Greek,     Or Barbarous, nor exception hath declard;     From us his foes pronounct glory he exacts.     To whom our Saviour fervently replyd.     And reason; since his word all things producd,     Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,     But to shew forth his goodness, and impart     His good communicable to every soul     Freely; of whom what could he less expect     Then glory and benediction, that is thanks,     The slightest, easiest, readiest recompence     From them who could return him nothing else,     And not returning that would likeliest render     Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?     Hard recompence, unsutable return     For so much good, so much beneficence.     But why should man seek glory? who of his own     Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs     But condemnation, ignominy, and shame?     Who for so many benefits receivd     Turnd recreant to God, ingrate and false,     And so of all true good himself despoild,     Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take     That which to God alone of right belongs;     Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,     That who advance his glory, not thir own,     Them he himself to glory will advance.     So spake the Son of God; and here again     Satan had not to answer, but stood struck     With guilt of his own sin, for he himself     Insatiable of glory had lost all,     Yet of another Plea bethought him soon.     Of glory as thou wilt, said he, so deem,     Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass:     But to a Kingdom thou art born, ordaind     To sit upon thy Father Davids Throne;     By Mothers side thy Father, though thy right     Be now in powerful hands, that will not part     Easily from possession won with arms;     Juda now and all the promisd land     Reduct a Province under Roman yoke,     Obeys Tiberius; nor is always ruld     With temperate sway; oft have they violated     The Temple, oft the Law with foul affronts,     Abominations rather, as did once     Antiochus: and thinkst thou to regain     Thy right by sitting still or thus retiring?     So did not Machabeus: he indeed     Retird unto the Desert, but with arms;     And ore a mighty King so oft prevaild,     That by strong hand his Family obtaind,     Though Priests, the Crown, and Davids Throne usurpd,     With Modin and her Suburbs once content.     If Kingdom move thee not, let move thee Zeal,     And Duty; Zeal and Duty are not slow;     But on Occasions forelock watchful wait.     They themselves rather are occasion best,     Zeal of thy Fathers house, Duty to free     Thy Country from her Heathen servitude;     So shalt thou best fullfil, best verifie     The Prophets old, who sung thy endless raign,     The happier raign the sooner it begins,     Raign then; what canst thou better do the while?     To whom our Saviour answer thus returnd.     All things are best fullfild in their due time,     And time there is for all things, Truth hath said:     If of my raign Prophetic Writ hath told,     That it shall never end, so when begin     The Father in his purpose hath decreed,     He in whose hand all times and seasons roul.     What if he hath decreed that I shall first     Be tryd in humble state, and things adverse,     By tribulations, injuries, insults,     Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,     Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting     Without distrust or doubt, that he may know     What I can suffer, how obey? who best     Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first     Well hath obeyd; just tryal ere I merit     My exaltation without change or end.     But what concerns it thee when I begin     My everlasting Kingdom, why art thou     Sollicitous, what moves thy inquisition?     Knowst thou not that my rising is thy fall,     And my promotion will be thy destruction?     To whom the Tempter inly rackt replyd.     Let that come when it comes; all hope is lost     Of my reception into grace; what worse?     For where no hope is left, is left no fear;     If there be worse, the expectation more     Of worse torments me then the feeling can.     I would be at the worst; worst is my Port,     My harbour and my ultimate repose,     The end I would attain, my final good.     My error was my error and my crime     My crime; whatever for it self condemnd,     And will alike be punishd; whether thou     Raign or raign not; though to that gentle brow     Willingly I could flye, and hope thy raign,     From that placid aspect and meek regard,     Rather then aggravate my evil state,     Would stand between me and thy Fathers ire,     (Whose ire I dread more then the fire of Hell)     A shelter and a kind of shading cool     Interposition, as a summers cloud.     If I then to the worst that can be hast,     Why move thy feet so slow to what is best,     Happiest both to thy self and all the world,     That thou who worthiest art shouldst be thir King?     Perhaps thou lingerst in deep thoughts detaind     Of the enterprize so hazardous and high;     No wonder, for though in thee be united     What of perfection can in man be found,     Or human nature can receive, consider     Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent     At home, scarce viewd the Gallilean Towns,     And once a year Jerusalem, few days     Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou observe?     The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,     Empires, and Monarchs, and thir radiant Courts,     Best school of best experience, quickest in sight     In all things that to greatest actions lead.     The wisest, unexperienct, will be ever     Timorous and loth, with novice modesty,     (As he who seeking Asses found a Kingdom)     Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous:     But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit     Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes     The Monarchies of the Earth, thir pomp and state,     Sufficient introduction to inform     Thee, of thy self so apt, in regal Arts,     And regal Mysteries; that thou mayst know     How best their opposition to withstand.     With that (such power was givn him then) he took     The Son of God up to a Mountain high.     It was a Mountain at whose verdant feet     A spatious plain out stretcht in circuit wide     Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowd,     Th one winding, the other strait and left between     Fair Champain with less rivers interveind,     Then meeting joynd thir tribute to the Sea:     Fertil of corn the glebe, of oyl and wine,     With herds the pastures throngd, with flocks the hills,     Huge Cities and high towrd, that well might seem     The seats of mightiest Monarchs, and so large     The Prospect was, that here and there was room     For barren desert fountainless and dry.     To this high mountain top the Tempter brought     Our Saviour, and new train of words began.     Well have we speeded, and ore hill and dale,     Forest and field, and flood, Temples and Towers     Cut shorter many a league; here thou beholdst     Assyria and her Empires antient bounds,     Araxes and the Caspian lake, thence on     As far as Indus East, Euphrates West,     And oft beyond; to South the Persian Bay,     And inaccessible the Arabian drouth:     Here Ninevee, of length within her wall     Several days journey, built by Ninus old,     Of that first golden Monarchy the seat,     And seat of Salmanassar, whose success     Israel in long captivity still mourns;     There Babylon the wonder of all tongues,     As antient, but rebuilt by him who twice     Judah and all thy Father Davids house     Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,     Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis     His City there thou seest, and Bactra there;     Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,     And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates,     There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,     The drink of none but Kings; of later fame     Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,     The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there     Artaxata, Teredon, Tesiphon,     Turning with easie eye thou mayst behold.     All these the Parthian, now some Ages past,     By great Arsaces led, who founded first     That Empire, under his dominion holds     From the luxurious Kings of Antioch won.     And just in time thou comst to have a view     Of his great power; for now the Parthian King     In Ctesiphon hath gatherd all his Host     Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild     Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid     He marches now in hast; see, though from far,     His thousands, in what martial equipage     They issue forth, Steel Bows, and Shafts their arms     Of equal dread in flight, or in pursuit;     All Horsemen, in which fight they most excel;     See how in warlike muster they appear,     In Rhombs and wedges, and half moons, and wings.     He lookt and saw what numbers numberless     The City gates out powrd, light armed Troops     In coats of Mail and military pride;     In Mail thir horses clad, yet fleet and strong,     Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and choice     Of many Provinces from bound to bound;     From Arachosia, from Candaor East,     And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs     Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales,     From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains     Of Adiabene, Media, and the South     Of Susiana to Balsaras havn.     He saw them in thir forms of battell rangd,     How quick they wheeld, and flying behind them shot     Sharp sleet of arrowie showers against the face     Of thir pursuers, and overcame by flight;     The field all iron cast a gleaming brown,     Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor on each horn,     Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight;     Chariots or Elephants endorst with Towers     Of Archers, nor of labouring Pioners     A multitude with Spades and Axes armd     To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,     Or where plain was raise hill, or over-lay     With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke;     Mules after these, Camels and Dromedaries,     And Waggons fraught with Utensils of war.     Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,     When Agrican with all his Northern powers     Besiegd Albracca, as Romances tell;     The City of Gallaphrone, from thence to win     The fairest of her Sex Angelica     His daughter, sought by many Prowest Knights,     Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemane.     Such and so numerous was thir Chivalrie;     At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presumd,     And to our Saviour thus his words renewd.     That thou mayst know I seek not to engage     Thy Vertue, and not every way secure     On no slight grounds thy safety; hear, and mark     To what end I have brought thee hither and shewn     All this fair sight; thy Kingdom though foretold     By Prophet or by Angel, unless thou     Endeavour, as thy Father David did,     Thou never shalt obtain; prediction still     In all things, and all men, supposes means,     Without means usd, what it predicts revokes.     But say thou wert possessd of Davids Throne     By free consent of all, none opposite,     Samaritan or Jew; how couldst thou hope     Long to enjoy it quiet and secure,     Between two such enclosing enemies     Roman and Parthian? therefore one of these     Thou must make sure thy own, the Parthian first     By my advice, as nearer and of late     Found able by invasion to annoy     Thy country, and captive lead away her Kings     Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound,     Maugre the Roman: it shall be my task     To render thee the Parthian at dispose;     Chuse which thou wilt by conquest or by league.     By him thou shalt regain, without him not,     That which alone can truly reinstall thee     In Davids royal seat, his true Successour,     Deliverance of thy brethren, those ten Tribes     Whose off-spring in his Territory yet serve     In Habor, and among the Medes disperst,     Ten Sons of Jacob, two of Joseph lost     Thus long from Israel; serving as of old     Thir Fathers in the land of Egypt servd,     This offer sets before thee to deliver.     These if from servitude thou shalt restore     To thir inheritance, then, nor till then,     Thou on the Throne of David in full glory,     From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond     Shalt raign, and Rome or Csar not need fear.     To whom our Saviour answerd thus unmovd.     Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm,     And fragile arms, much instrument of war     Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,     Before mine eyes thou hast set; and in my ear     Vented much policy, and projects deep     Of enemies, of aids, battels and leagues,     Plausible to the world, to me worth naught.     Means I must use thou sayst, prediction else     Will unpredict and fail me of the Throne:     My time I told thee, (and that time for thee     Were better farthest off) is not yet come;     When that comes think not thou to find me slack     On my part aught endeavouring, or to need     Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome     Luggage of war there shewn me, argument     Of human weakness rather then of strength.     My brethren, as thou callst them; those Ten Tribes     I must deliver, if I mean to raign     Davids true heir, and his full Scepter sway     To just extent over all Israels Sons;     But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then     For Israel, or for David, or his Throne,     When thou stoodst up his Tempter to the pride     Of numbring Israel, which cost the lives     Of threescore and ten thousand Israelites     By three days Pestilence? such was thy zeal     To Israel then, the same that now to me.     As for those captive Tribes, themselves were they     Who wrought their own captivity, fell off     From God to worship Calves, the Deities     Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth,     And all the Idolatries of Heathen round,     Besides thir other worse then heathenish crimes;     Nor in the land of their captivity     Humbled themselves, or penitent besought     The God of their fore-fathers; but so dyd     Impenitent, and left a race behind     Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce     From Gentils, but by Circumcision vain,     And God with Idols in their worship joynd.     Should I of these the liberty regard,     Who freed, as to their antient Patrimony,     Unhumbld, unrepentant, unreformd,     Headlong would follow; and to thir Gods perhaps     Of Bethel and of Dan? no, let them serve     Thir enemies, who serve Idols with God.     Yet he at length, time to himself best known,     Remembring Abraham by some wondrous call     May bring them back repentant and sincere,     And at their passing cleave the Assyrian flood,     While to their native land with joy they hast,     As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,     When to the promisd land thir Fathers passd;     To his due time and providence I leave them.     So spake Israels true King, and to the Fiend     Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.     So fares it when with truth falshood contends.