Paradise Regained Read online

Admiring stood a space; then into hymns

  Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved, 170

  Circling the throne and singing, while the hand

  Sung with the voice, and this the argument:--

  "Victory and triumph to the Son of God,

  Now entering his great duel, not of arms,

  But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles!

  The Father knows the Son; therefore secure

  Ventures his filial virtue, though untried,

  Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er seduce,

  Allure, or terrify, or undermine.

  Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell, 180

  And, devilish machinations, come to nought!"

  So they in Heaven their odes and vigils tuned.

  Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days

  Lodged in Bethabara, where John baptized,

  Musing and much revolving in his breast

  How best the mighty work he might begin

  Of Saviour to mankind, and which way first

  Publish his godlike office now mature,

  One day forth walked alone, the Spirit leading

  And his deep thoughts, the better to converse 190

  With solitude, till, far from track of men,

  Thought following thought, and step by step led on,

  He entered now the bordering Desert wild,

  And, with dark shades and rocks environed round,

  His holy meditations thus pursued:--

  "O what a multitude of thoughts at once

  Awakened in me swarm, while I consider

  What from within I feel myself, and hear

  What from without comes often to my ears,

  Ill sorting with my present state compared! 200

  When I was yet a child, no childish play

  To me was pleasing; all my mind was set

  Serious to learn and know, and thence to do,

  What might be public good; myself I thought

  Born to that end, born to promote all truth,

  All righteous things. Therefore, above my years,

  The Law of God I read, and found it sweet;

  Made it my whole delight, and in it grew

  To such perfection that, ere yet my age

  Had measured twice six years, at our great Feast 210

  I went into the Temple, there to hear

  The teachers of our Law, and to propose

  What might improve my knowledge or their own,

  And was admired by all. Yet this not all

  To which my spirit aspired. Victorious deeds

  Flamed in my heart, heroic acts--one while

  To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke;

  Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth,

  Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,

  Till truth were freed, and equity restored: 220

  Yet held it more humane, more heavenly, first

  By winning words to conquer willing hearts,

  And make persuasion do the work of fear;

  At least to try, and teach the erring soul,

  Not wilfully misdoing, but unware

  Misled; the stubborn only to subdue.

  These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving,

  By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced,

  And said to me apart, 'High are thy thoughts,

  O Son! but nourish them, and let them soar 230

  To what highth sacred virtue and true worth

  Can raise them, though above example high;

  By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire.

  For know, thou art no son of mortal man;

  Though men esteem thee low of parentage,

  Thy Father is the Eternal King who rules

  All Heaven and Earth, Angels and sons of men.

  A messenger from God foretold thy birth

  Conceived in me a virgin; he foretold

  Thou shouldst be great, and sit on David's throne, 240

  And of thy kingdom there should be no end.

  At thy nativity a glorious quire

  Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung

  To shepherds, watching at their folds by night,

  And told them the Messiah now was born,

  Where they might see him; and to thee they came,

  Directed to the manger where thou lay'st;

  For in the inn was left no better room.

  A Star, not seen before, in heaven appearing,

  Guided the Wise Men thither from the East, 250

  To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and gold;

  By whose bright course led on they found the place,

  Affirming it thy star, new-graven in heaven,

  By which they knew thee King of Israel born.

  Just Simeon and prophetic Anna, warned

  By vision, found thee in the Temple, and spake,

  Before the altar and the vested priest,

  Like things of thee to all that present stood.'

  This having heart, straight I again revolved

  The Law and Prophets, searching what was writ 260

  Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes

  Known partly, and soon found of whom they spake

  I am--this chiefly, that my way must lie

  Through many a hard assay, even to the death,

  Ere I the promised kingdom can attain,

  Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins'

  Full weight must be transferred upon my head.

  Yet, neither thus disheartened or dismayed,

  The time prefixed I waited; when behold

  The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard, 270

  Not knew by sight) now come, who was to come

  Before Messiah, and his way prepare!

  I, as all others, to his baptism came,

  Which I believed was from above; but he

  Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed

  Me him (for it was shewn him so from Heaven)--

  Me him whose harbinger he was; and first

  Refused on me his baptism to confer,

  As much his greater, and was hardly won.

  But, as I rose out of the laving stream, 280

  Heaven opened her eternal doors, from whence

  The Spirit descended on me like a Dove;

  And last, the sum of all, my Father's voice,

  Audibly heard from Heaven, pronounced me his,

  Me his beloved Son, in whom alone

  He was well pleased: by which I knew the time

  Now full, that I no more should live obscure,

  But openly begin, as best becomes

  The authority which I derived from Heaven.

  And now by some strong motion I am led 290

  Into this wilderness; to what intent

  I learn not yet. Perhaps I need not know;

  For what concerns my knowledge God reveals."

  So spake our Morning Star, then in his rise,

  And, looking round, on every side beheld

  A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.

  The way he came, not having marked return,

  Was difficult, by human steps untrod;

  And he still on was led, but with such thoughts

  Accompanied of things past and to come 300

  Lodged in his breast as well might recommend

  Such solitude before choicest society.

  Full forty days he passed--whether on hill

  Sometimes, anon in shady vale, each night

  Under the covert of some ancient oak

  Or cedar to defend him from the dew,

  Or harboured in one cave, is not revealed;

  Nor tasted human food, nor hunger felt,

  Till those days ended; hungered then at last
/>   Among wild beasts. They at his sight grew mild, 310

  Nor sleeping him nor waking harmed; his walk

  The fiery serpent fled and noxious worm;

  The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.

  But now an aged man in rural weeds,

  Following, as seemed, the quest of some stray eye,

  Or withered sticks to gather, which might serve

  Against a winter's day, when winds blow keen,

  To warm him wet returned from field at eve,

  He saw approach; who first with curious eye

  Perused him, then with words thus uttered spake:-- 320

  "Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place,

  So far from path or road of men, who pass

  In troop or caravan? for single none

  Durst ever, who returned, and dropt not here

  His carcass, pined with hunger and with droughth.

  I ask the rather, and the more admire,

  For that to me thou seem'st the man whom late

  Our new baptizing Prophet at the ford

  Of Jordan honoured so, and called thee Son

  Of God. I saw and heard, for we sometimes 330

  Who dwell this wild, constrained by want, come forth

  To town or village nigh (nighest is far),

  Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear,

  What happens new; fame also finds us out."

  To whom the Son of God:--"Who brought me hither

  Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek."

  "By miracle he may," replied the swain;

  "What other way I see not; for we here

  Live on tough roots and stubs, to thirst inured

  More than the camel, and to drink go far-- 340

  Men to much misery and hardship born.

  But, if thou be the Son of God, command

  That out of these hard stones be made thee bread;

  So shalt thou save thyself, and us relieve

  With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste."

  He ended, and the Son of God replied:--

  "Think'st thou such force in bread? Is it not written

  (For I discern thee other than thou seem'st),

  Man lives not by bread only, but each word

  Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed 350

  Our fathers here with manna? In the Mount

  Moses was forty days, nor eat nor drank;

  And forty days Eliah without food

  Wandered this barren waste; the same I now.

  Why dost thou, then, suggest to me distrust

  Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"

  Whom thus answered the Arch-Fiend, now undisguised:--

  "'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate

  Who, leagued with millions more in rash revolt,

  Kept not my happy station, but was driven 360

  With them from bliss to the bottomless Deep--

  Yet to that hideous place not so confined

  By rigour unconniving but that oft,

  Leaving my dolorous prison, I enjoy

  Large liberty to round this globe of Earth,

  Or range in the Air; nor from the Heaven of Heavens

  Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.

  I came, among the Sons of God, when he

  Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job,

  To prove him, and illustrate his high worth; 370

  And, when to all his Angels he proposed

  To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud,

  That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,

  I undertook that office, and the tongues

  Of all his flattering prophets glibbed with lies

  To his destruction, as I had in charge:

  For what he bids I do. Though I have lost

  Much lustre of my native brightness, lost

  To be beloved of God, I have not lost

  To love, at least contemplate and admire, 380

  What I see excellent in good, or fair,

  Or virtuous; I should so have lost all sense.

  What can be then less in me than desire

  To see thee and approach thee, whom I know

  Declared the Son of God, to hear attent

  Thy wisdom, and behold thy godlike deeds?

  Men generally think me much a foe

  To all mankind. Why should I? they to me

  Never did wrong or violence. By them

  I lost not what I lost; rather by them 390

  I gained what I have gained, and with them dwell

  Copartner in these regions of the World,

  If not disposer--lend them oft my aid,

  Oft my advice by presages and signs,

  And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,

  Whereby they may direct their future life.

  Envy, they say, excites me, thus to gain

  Companions of my misery and woe!

  At first it may be; but, long since with woe

  Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof 400

  That fellowship in pain divides not smart,

  Nor lightens aught each man's peculiar load;

  Small consolation, then, were Man adjoined.

  This wounds me most (what can it less?) that Man,

  Man fallen, shall be restored, I never more."

  To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied:--

  "Deservedly thou griev'st, composed of lies

  From the beginning, and in lies wilt end,

  Who boast'st release from Hell, and leave to come

  Into the Heaven of Heavens. Thou com'st, indeed, 410

  As a poor miserable captive thrall

  Comes to the place where he before had sat

  Among the prime in splendour, now deposed,

  Ejected, emptied, gazed, unpitied, shunned,

  A spectacle of ruin, or of scorn,

  To all the host of Heaven. The happy place

  Imparts to thee no happiness, no joy--

  Rather inflames thy torment, representing

  Lost bliss, to thee no more communicable;

  So never more in Hell than when in Heaven. 420

  But thou art serviceable to Heaven's King!

  Wilt thou impute to obedience what thy fear

  Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites?

  What but thy malice moved thee to misdeem

  Of righteous Job, then cruelly to afflict him

  With all inflictions? but his patience won.

  The other service was thy chosen task,

  To be a liar in four hundred mouths;

  For lying is thy sustenance, thy food.

  Yet thou pretend'st to truth! all oracles 430

  By thee are given, and what confessed more true

  Among the nations? That hath been thy craft,

  By mixing somewhat true to vent more lies.

  But what have been thy answers? what but dark,

  Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding,

  Which they who asked have seldom understood,

  And, not well understood, as good not known?

  Who ever, by consulting at thy shrine,

  Returned the wiser, or the more instruct

  To fly or follow what concerned him most, 440

  And run not sooner to his fatal snare?

  For God hath justly given the nations up

  To thy delusions; justly, since they fell

  Idolatrous. But, when his purpose is

  Among them to declare his providence,

  To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth,

  But from him, or his Angels president

  In every province, who, themselves disdaining

  To approach thy temples, give thee in command

  What, to the smallest tittl
e, thou shalt say 450

  To thy adorers? Thou, with trembling fear,

  Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st;

  Then to thyself ascrib'st the truth foretold.

  But this thy glory shall be soon retrenched;

  No more shalt thou by oracling abuse

  The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceased,

  And thou no more with pomp and sacrifice

  Shalt be enquired at Delphos or elsewhere--

  At least in vain, for they shall find thee mute.

  God hath now sent his living Oracle 460

  Into the world to teach his final will,

  And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell

  In pious hearts, an inward oracle

  To all truth requisite for men to know."

  So spake our Saviour; but the subtle Fiend,

  Though inly stung with anger and disdain,

  Dissembled, and this answer smooth returned:--

  "Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke,

  And urged me hard with doings which not will,

  But misery, hath wrested from me. Where 470

  Easily canst thou find one miserable,

  And not inforced oft-times to part from truth,

  If it may stand him more in stead to lie,

  Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure?

  But thou art placed above me; thou art Lord;

  From thee I can, and must, submiss, endure

  Cheek or reproof, and glad to scape so quit.

  Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk,

  Smooth on the tongue discoursed, pleasing to the ear,

  And tunable as sylvan pipe or song; 480

  What wonder, then, if I delight to hear

  Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire

  Virtue who follow not her lore. Permit me

  To hear thee when I come (since no man comes),

  And talk at least, though I despair to attain.

  Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure,

  Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest

  To tread his sacred courts, and minister

  About his altar, handling holy things,

  Praying or vowing, and voutsafed his voice 490

  To Balaam reprobate, a prophet yet

  Inspired: disdain not such access to me."

  To whom our Saviour, with unaltered brow:--

  "Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,

  I bid not, or forbid. Do as thou find'st

  Permission from above; thou canst not more."

  He added not; and Satan, bowling low

  His gray dissimulation, disappeared,

  Into thin air diffused: for now began

  Night with her sullen wing to double-shade 500

  The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couched;

  And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.

  THE SECOND BOOK

  MEANWHILE the new-baptized, who yet remained

  At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen

  Him whom they heard so late expressly called

  Jesus Messiah, Son of God, declared,

  And on that high authority had believed,

  And with him talked, and with him lodged--I mean

  Andrew and Simon, famous after known,

  With others, though in Holy Writ not named--

  Now missing him, their joy so lately found,

  So lately found and so abruptly gone, 10

  Began to doubt, and doubted many days,

  And, as the days increased, increased their doubt.

  Sometimes they thought he might be only shewn,

  And for a time caught up to God, as once

  Moses was in the Mount and missing long,

  And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels

  Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to come.

  Therefore, as those young prophets then with care

  Sought lost Eliah, so in each place these

  Nigh to Bethabara--in Jericho 20

  The city of palms, AEnon, and Salem old,

  Machaerus, and each town or city walled

  On this side the broad lake Genezaret,

  Or in Peraea--but returned in vain.

  Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,

  Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play,

  Plain fishermen (no greater men them call),

  Close in a cottage low together got,

  Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreathed:--

  "Alas, from what high hope to what relapse 30

  Unlooked for are we fallen! Our eyes beheld

  Messiah certainly now come, so long

  Expected of our fathers; we have heard

  His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.

  'Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand;

  The kingdom shall to Israel be restored:'

  Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned

  Into perplexity and new amaze.

  For whither is he gone? what accident

  Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire 40

  After appearance, and again prolong

  Our expectation? God of Israel,

  Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come.

  Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress

  Thy Chosen, to what highth their power unjust

  They have exalted, and behind them cast

  All fear of Thee; arise, and vindicate

  Thy glory; free thy people from their yoke!

  But let us wait; thus far He hath performed--

  Sent his Anointed, and to us revealed him 50

  By his great Prophet pointed at and shown

  In public, and with him we have conversed.

  Let us be glad of this, and all our fears

  Lay on his providence; He will not fail,

  Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall--

  Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence:

  Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return."

  Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume