On the Campanian fhore, with purpose there
His horrid lufts in private to enjoy,
Committing to a wicked favourite
All public cares, and yet of him suspicious;
Hated of all, and hating: with what eafe,
Indu'd with regal virtues, as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,
Might't thou expel this monfter from his throne,
Now made a flye, and in his place afcending,
A victor people tree from fervile yoke!
And with my help thou may'st: to me the power
Is giv'n, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim therefore at no lets than all the world,
Aim at the higheft; without the highest attain'd
Will be for thee no fitting, or not long,
On David's throne, be prophecy'd what will.
To whom the Son of God unmov'd reply 'd:
Nor doth this grandeur, and majestic show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
More than of arms before, allure mine eye,
Much leis my mind; though thou should'st add to tell
Their fumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feafts,
On citron tables or Atlantic stone,
(For I have all heard, perhaps have read,)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups, imbois'd with gems
And ftuds of pearl; to me fhould't tell who thirst
And hunger till: then embaffies thou show'it
From nations far and nigh; what honour that,
But tedious waste of time, to fit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? Then proceed'st to talk
Of the emperor, how eafily fubdu'd,
How gloriously: I fhall, thou fay'ft, expel
A brutish monfter: what if I withal
Expel a devil who first made him fuch?
Let his tormentor confcience find him out;
For him I was not fent; nor yet to free
That people, victor once, now vile and bafe,
Defervedly made vaffal, who once juft,
Frugal, and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well,
But govern ill the nations under yoke,
Peeling their provinces, exhaufted all
By luit and rapine? firit ambitious grown
Of triumph, that infulting vanity
Then cruel, by their fports of blood inut'd
Of fighting beafts, and men to beafts expos'd;
Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still,
And from the daily fcene effeminate.
What wife and valiant man would feck to free
Thele thus degenerate, by themselves inflav'd,
Or could of inward flaves make outward free?
Know therefore, when my feafon comes to fit
On David's throne, it fhall be like a tree
Spreading and overfhadowing all the earth;
Or as a tone that fhall to pieces dash
All monarchies befides throughout the world;
And of my kingdom there fhall be no end
Means there fhall be to this; but what the means,
Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.
To whom the Tempter impudent reply'd:
I fee all offers made by me how flight
Thou valuett, becaufe offer'd, and reject'ft:
Nothing will please the difficult and nice,
Or nothing more than still to contradict:
On th' other fide know alfo thou, that I
On what I offer fet as high efteem,
Nor what I part with mean to give for nought:
All thefe, which in a moment thou behold'it,
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 referve, not elfe,
On this condition, if thou wilt fall down,
And worship me as thy fuperior lord ;
Eafily done, and hold them all of me;
For what can lefs fo great a gift deserve?
Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain :
I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers lefs.
Now both abhor, fince thou haft dar'd to utter
Th' 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 worship
The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;
And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee accurs'd, now more accurs'd
For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve,
And more blafphemous? which expect to rue.
The kingdoms of the world to thee were given,
Permitted rather, and by thee ufurp'd;
Other donation none thou canst produce.
If giv❜n, by whom, but by the King of Kings,
God over all fupreme? If giv'n to thee,
By thee how fairly is the giver now
Repaid? But gratitude in thee is loft
Long fince. Wert thou fo void of fear or shame,
As offer them to me, the Son of God,
To me my own, on fuch abhorred pact,
That I fall down and worship thee as God?
Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st
That evil one, Satan for ever damn'd.
To whom the fiend, with fear abash'd, reply'd: 195 Be not fo fore offended, Son of God,
(Though fons of God both angels are and men,)
If I, to try whether in higher fort
Than these thou bear'ft that title, have propos'd
What both from men and angels I receive,
Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth
Nations befides from all the quarter'd winds,
God of this world invok'd, and world beneath :
Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold
To me fo fatal, me it most concerns.
The trial hath indamag'd thee no way,
Rather more honour left and more esteem;
Me nought advantag'd, miffing what I aim'd.
Therefore let pafs, as they are tranfitory,
The kingdoms of this world; I fhall no more
Advife thee; gain them as thou canft, or not.
And thou thyself seem'ft otherwise inclin'd
Than to a worldly crown, addicted more
To contemplation and profound difpute,
As by that early action may be judg'd,
When, flipping from thy mother's eye, thou went❜it
Alone into the temple; there waft found
Among the graveft Rabbies, difputant
On points and questions fitting Mofes' chair,
Teaching, not taught, the childhood fhows the man,
As morning fhows the day. Be famous then
By wisdom; as thy empire must extend,
So let extend thy mind o'er all the world
In knowledge, all things in it comprehend:
All knowledge is not couch'd in Mofes' law,
The Pentateuch, or what the prophets wrote;
The Gentiles also know, and write and teach
To admiration, led by Nature's light;
And with the Gentiles much thou must converse,
Ruling them by perfuafion, as thou mean'st;
Without their learning how wilt thou with them
Or they with thee, hold conversation meet?
How wilt thou reason with them, how refute
Their idolifms, traditions, paradoxes?
Error by his own arms is beft evinc'd.
Look once more, ere we leave this fpec'lar mount,
Weftward, much nearer by fouthwest; behold
Where on th' gean fhore a city stands
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the foil,
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence, native to famous wits
Or hofpitable, in her sweet recefs.
City or fuburban, ftudious walks and shades ;
See there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the fummer long;
There flowery hill Hymettus with the found
Of bees induftrious murmur oft invites
To ftudious mufing; there Iliffus rolls
His wifp'ring ftream: within the walls then view 250 The schools of ancient sages; his who bred
Great Alexander to fubdue the world;
Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next :
There shalt thou hear and learn the fecret power
Of harmony in tones and numbers hit
By voice or hand, and various meatur'd verse,
Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,
And his who gave them breath, but higher fung,
· Blind Melefigenes thence Homer call'd,
Whofe poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own.
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught
In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best
Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd
In brief fententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life;
High actions, and high paffions beft defcribing.
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Thofe ancient, whofe refiftlefs eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratic,
Shook th' arfenal, and fulmin'd over Greece,
To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne.
To fage Philofophy next lend thine ear,
From heav'n defcended to the low-roof'd houfe
Of Socrates; fee there his tenement,
Whom well infpir'd the oracle pronounc'd
Wifeft of men; from whofe mouth issued forth
Mellifluous ftreams, that water'd all the fchools
Of Academics old and new, with thofe
Sirnam'd Peripatetics, and the fect
Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere :
Thefe here revolve, or, as thou lik'ft at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight:
These rules will render thee a king complete
Within thy felf, much more with empire join'd.
To whom our Saviour fagely thus reply'd :
Think not but that I know thefe things, or think
I know them not; nor therefore am I fhort
Of knowing what I ought: he who receives
Light from above, from the fountain of light,
No other doctrine needs, though granted true;
But these are falfe, or little elfe but dreams,
Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.
The first and wifeft of them all profets'd
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