Obeys Tiberius; nor is always rul'd
With temp'rate sway; oft have they violated
The temple, oft the law with foul affronts,
Abominations rather, as did once
Antiochus and think'st thou to regain
Tho' priests, the crown, and David's throne ufurp'd, With Modin and her suburbs once content.
If kingdom move thee not, let move thee zeal
And duty; zeal and duty are not flow;
But on occafion's forelock watchful wait.
They themselves rather are occasion best,
Zeal of thy Father's house, duty to free
Thy country from her Heathen fervitude;
So fhalt thou best fulfil, best verify
The prophets old, who sung thy endless reign;
The happier reign the fooner it begins;
Reign then; what canft thou better do the while? 180
To whom our Saviour answer thus return'd.
All things are beft fulfill'd in their due time,
And time there is for all things, Truth hath faid:
If of my reign prophetic Writ hath told,
That it shall never end, fo when begin
The Father in his purpose hath decreed,
He in whose hand all times and feafons roll.
What if he hath decreed that I fhall first
Be try'd in humble ftate, and things adverse,
By tribulations, injuries, infults,
Contempts, and fcorns, and fnares, and violence,
Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting,
Without distrust or doubt, that he may know
What I can fuffer, how obey? who best
Can fuffer, best can do; best reign, who first
Well hath obey'd; just trial ere I merit
My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee when I begin
My everlasting kingdom, why art thou
Solicitous, what moves thy inquifition?
Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall,
And my promotion will be thy destruction?
To whom the Tempter inly rack'd reply'd.
Let that come when it comes; all hope is loft
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 than 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 itself condemn'd,
And will alike be punish'd whether thou
Reign or reign not; though to that gentle brow 215
Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign,
From that placid aspect and meek regard,
Rather than aggravate my evil state,
Would stand between me and thy Father's ire
(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell) 220 A shelter and a kind of fhading cool Interpofition, as a fummer's cloud.
If I then to the worst that can be hafte,
Why move thy feet fo flow to what is best,
Happiest both to thyself and all the world,
That thou who worthiest art should'st be their king?
Perhaps thou linger'ft in deep thoughts detain'd
Of th' enterprise 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, confider
Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent
At home, scarce view'd the Galilean towns,
And once a year Jerufalem, few days
Short fojourn; and what thence could'ft thou obferve?
The world thou haft not feen, much less her glory,
Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts,
Best school of beft experience, quickest insight
In all things that to greatest actions lead.
The wifeft, unexperienc'd, will be ever
Timorous and loath, with novice modesty,
(As he who seeking affes found a kingdom)
Irrefolute, unhardy, unadventrous:
But I will bring thee where thou foon shalt quit Those rudiments, and fee before thine eyes 245 The monarchies of th' earth, their pomp and flate, Sufficient introduction to inform
Thee, of thyfelf fo apt, in regal arts,
And regal mysteries, that thou may'st know
How beft their oppofition to withstand.
With that (fuch pow'r was giv'n him then) he took The Son of God up to a mountain high.
It was a mountain at whose verdant feet
A spacious plain out-ftretch'd in circuit wide
Lay pleasant; from his fide two rivers flow'd, 255
Th' one winding, th' other ftrait, and left between
Fair champain with less rivers intervein'd,
Then meeting join'd their tribute to the fea:
Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil and wine;
With herds the paftures throng'd, with flocks the hills;
Huge cities and high towr'd, that well might seem
The feats of mightiest monarchs, and so large
The prospect was, that here and there was room
For barren defert fountainless and dry.
To this high mountain top the Tempter brought 265
Our Saviour, and new train of words began.
Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and dale, Foreft and field and flood, temples and towers, Cut fhorter many a league; here thou behold'st Affyria and her empire's ancient bounds,
Araxes and the Cafpian lake, thence on
As far as Indus eaft, Euphrates west,
And oft beyond; to south the Persian bay,
And inaccessible th' Arabian drouth:
Here Nineveh, of length within her wall
Several days journey, built by Ninus old,
Of that first golden monarchy the feat,
And feat of Salmanaffar, whofe fuccefs
Ifrael in long captivity ftill mourns;
There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues,
As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice
Judah and all thy father David's house
Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus fet them free; Persepolis
His city there thou seest, and Bactra there; 285
Ecbatana her structure vaft there shows,
And Hecatompylos her hundred gates;
There Sufa by Choafpes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings; of later fame
Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,
The great Seleucia, Nifibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,
Turning with easy eye thou may'st behold.
All these the Parthian, now fome ages past,
By great Arfaces led, who founded first
That empire, under his dominion holds,
From the luxurious kings of Antioch won.
And just in time thou com'ft to have a view
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