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Paradise Regained - Book IIb (thing)
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Wed Sep 27 2000 at 17:33:19
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"Where will this end? Four times ten days I have
passed
Wandering this
wood
y maze, and human food
Nor tasted, nor had appetite. That fast
To virtue I impute not, or count part
Of what I suffer here. If nature need not,
Or
God
support nature without repast, 250
Though needing, what praise is it to endure?
But now I feel I
hunger
; which declares
Nature hath need of what she asks. Yet
God
Can satisfy that need some other way,
Though
hunger still remain. So it remain
Without this body's wasting, I content me,
And from the sting of
famine
fear
no harm;
Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed
Me hungering more to do my
Father
's will."
It was the hour of night, when thus the
Son
260
Communed
in silent walk, then laid him down
Under the
hospitable
covert
nigh
Of trees thick interwoven. There he slept,
And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,
Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet.
Him thought he by the brook of
Cherith
stood,
And saw the ravens with their horny
beaks
Food to
Elijah
bringing even and morn--
Though
ravenous
, taught to abstain from what they brought;
He saw the
Prophet
also, how he fled 270
Into the desert, and how there he slept
Under a
juniper
--then how, awaked,
He found his supper on the coals prepared,
And by the
Angel
was bid rise and eat,
And eat the second time after repose,
The strength whereof sufficed him forty days:
Sometimes that with
Elijah
he partook,
Or as a guest with
Daniel
at his pulse.
Thus wore out night; and now the harald
Lark
Left his ground-nest, high towering to
descry
280
The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song.
As lightly from his grassy couch up rose
Our
Saviour
, and found all was but a dream;
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
Up to a hill anon his steps he reared,
From whose high top to ken the prospect round,
If cottage were in view,
sheep-cote
, or herd;
But
cottage
,
herd
, or
sheep-cote
, none he saw--
Only in a bottom saw a
pleasant
grove,
With
chaunt
of
tuneful
birds resounding loud. 290
Thither he bent his way, determined there
To rest at
noon
, and entered soon the shade
High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,
That opened in the midst a woody scene;
Nature's own work it seemed (
Nature taught Art
),
And, to a
superstitious
eye
, the haunt
Of
wood-gods
and
wood-nymphs
. He viewed it round;
When suddenly a man before him stood,
Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,
As one in city or court or palace bred, 300
And with fair speech these words to him addressed:--
"With granted leave officious I return,
But much more wonder that the
Son of God
In this wild solitude so long should bide,
Of all things destitute, and, well I know,
Not without hunger. Others of some note,
As story tells, have trod this
wilderness
:
The fugitive
Bond-woman
, with her son,
Outcast
Nebaioth
, yet found here
relief
By a providing
Angel
; all the race 310
Of
Israel
here had famished, had not
God
Rained from
Heaven
manna
; and that
Prophet
bold,
Native
of
Thebez
, wandering here, was fed
Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.
Of thee those forty days none hath regard,
Forty and more deserted here indeed."
To whom thus
Jesus
:--"What conclud'st thou hence?
They all had need; I, as thou seest, have none."
"How hast thou hunger then?"
Satan
replied.
"Tell me, if food were now before thee set, 320
Wouldst thou not eat?" "Thereafter as I like
the giver," answered
Jesus
. "Why should that
Cause thy refusal?" said the subtle
Fiend
.
"Hast thou not right to all created things?
Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee
Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,
But tender all their power? Nor mention I
Meats by the law unclean, or offered first
To idols--those young
Daniel
could refuse;
Nor proffered by an
enemy
--though who 330
Would scruple that, with want oppressed? Behold,
Nature ashamed, or, better to express,
Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath purveyed
From all the elements her choicest store,
To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord
With honour. Only
deign
to
sit
and eat."
He spake no dream; for, as his words had end,
Our
Saviour
, lifting up his eyes, beheld,
In ample space under the broadest shade,
A table richly spread in
regal
mode, 340
With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort
And savour--beasts of chase, or fowl of game,
In
pastry
built, or from the spit, or boiled,
Grisamber
-steamed; all fish, from sea or shore,
Freshet or
purling
brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drained
Pontus
, and
Lucrine
bay, and
Afric
coast.
Alas! how simple, to these cates compared,
Was that crude
Apple
that diverted
Eve
!
And at a stately sideboard, by the wine, 350
That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood
Tall stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
Than
Ganymed
or
Hylas
; distant more,
Under the trees now tripped, now solemn stood,
Nymphs
of
Diana
's train, and
Naiades
With fruits and flowers from
Amalthea
's horn,
And ladies of the
Hesperides
, that seemed
Fairer than
feigned
of old, or
fabled
since
Of
faery
damsels
met in forest wide
By knights of
Logres
, or of
Lyones
, 360
Lancelot
, or
Pelleas
, or
Pellenore
.
And all the while harmonious airs were heard
Of chiming strings or charming pipes; and winds
Of gentlest gale
Arabian
odours fanned
From their soft wings, and
Flora
's earliest smells.
Such was the splendour; and the
Tempter
now
His invitation earnestly renewed:--
"What doubts the
Son of God
to sit and eat?
These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict
Defends the touching of these viands pure; 370
Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,
But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.
All these are
Spirits
of air, and woods, and springs,
Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their
Lord
.
What doubt'st thou,
Son of God
? Sit down and eat."
To whom thus
Jesus
temperately replied:--
"Said'st thou not that to all things I had right?
And who withholds my power that right to use? 380
Shall I receive by gift what of my own,
When and where likes me best, I can command?
I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,
Command a table in this
wilderness
,
And call swift flights of
Angels
ministrant
,
Arrayed in glory, on my cup to attend:
Why shouldst thou, then, obtrude this
diligence
In vain, where no acceptance it can find?
And with my hunger what hast thou to do?
Thy pompous delicacies I contemn, 390
And count thy specious
gifts
no
gifts
, but
guiles
."
To whom thus answered
Satan
,
male-content
:--
"That I have also power to give thou seest;
If of that power I bring thee
voluntary
What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,
And rather opportunely in this place
Chose to impart to thy apparent need,
Why shouldst thou not accept it? But I see
What I can do or offer is suspect.
Of these things others quickly will dispose, 400
Whose pains have earned the
far-fet
spoil
." With that
Both table and provision vanished quite,
With sound of
harpies
' wings and talons heard;
Only the importune
Tempter
still remained,
And with these words his
temptation
pursued:--
"By
hunger
, that each other creature tames,
Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved;
Thy temperance,
invincible
besides,
For no allurement yields to
appetite
;
And all thy heart is set on high designs, 410
High actions. But wherewith to be achieved?
Great acts require great means of enterprise;
Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of
birth
,
A carpenter thy
Father
known, thyself
Bred up in
poverty
and straits at home,
Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit.
Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire
To greatness? whence
authority
deriv'st?
What followers, what retinue canst thou gain,
Or at thy heels the
dizzy
multitude, 420
Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms.
What raised
Antipater
the
Edomite
,
And his son
Herod
placed on
Juda
's throne,
Thy throne, but
gold
, that got him puissant friends?
Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,
Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap--
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.
Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;
They whom I favour thrive in wealth
amain
, 430
While
virtue
,
valour
,
wisdom
, sit in
want
."
To whom thus
Jesus patiently replied
:--
"Yet wealth without these three is impotent
To gain dominion, or to keep it gained--
Witness those ancient empires of the earth,
In highth of all their flowing wealth
dissolved
;
But men endued with these have oft attained,
In lowest poverty, to highest deeds--
Gideon
, and
Jephtha
, and the shepherd lad
Whose offspring on the throne of
Juda
sate 440
So many ages, and shall yet
regain
That seat, and reign in
Israel
without end.
Among the Heathen (for throughout the world
To me is not unknown what hath been done
Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember
Quintius
,
Fabricius
,
Curius
,
Regulus
?
For I esteem those names of men so poor,
Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
Riches, though offered from the hand of kings.
And what in me seems wanting but that I 450
May also in this poverty as soon
Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?
Extol
not riches, then, the toil of fools,
The wise man's
cumbrance
, if not snare; more apt
To slacken virtue and abate her edge
Than
prompt
her to do aught may merit praise.
What if with like aversion I reject
Riches and realms! Yet not for that a crown,
Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns,
Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, 460
To him who wears the regal
diadem
,
When
on his shoulders each man's burden lies
;
For therein stands the office of a
king
,
His
honour
,
virtue
,
merit
, and chief praise,
That for the public all this weight he bears.
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Passions, desires, and fears, is more a
king
--
Which every wise and virtuous man attains;
And who attains not, ill
aspires
to rule
Cities of men, or headstrong
multitudes
, 470
Subject himself to anarchy within,
Or
lawless
passions in him, which he serves.
But to guide nations in the way of truth
By saving
doctrine
, and from error lead
To know, and, knowing, worship
God
aright,
Is yet more
kingly
. This attracts the soul,
Governs
the inner man, the nobler part;
That other o'er the body only reigns,
And oft by force--which to a
generous
mind
So reigning can be no sincere delight. 480
Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
Far more
magnanimous
, than to
ass
u
me
.
Riches are needless, then, both for themselves,
And for thy reason why they should be
sought
--
To gain a
sceptre
, oftest better missed."
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Contents
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Paradise Regained - Book IIIa
Paradise Regained - Book IIa
Superstitious
Regulus
Lawless
authority