The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

  170 Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved,

  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 ent’ring his great duel, not of arms,

  175 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.

  180 Be frustrate all ye strategems of Hell,

  And devilish machinations come to nought.

  So they in Heav’n their odes and vigils tuned:

  Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days

  Lodged in Bethabara where John baptized,

  185 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;

  190 And his deep thoughts, the better to converse

  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,

  195 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,

  200 Ill sorting with my present state compared.

  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

  205 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

  210 Had measured twice six years, at our great feast

  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

  215 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 pow’r,

  220 Till truth were freed, and equity restored:

  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

  225 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

  230 O Son, but nourish them and let them soar

  To what heighth 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,

  235 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

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

  And of thy kingdom there should be no end.

  At thy nativity a glorious choir

  Of angels in the fields of Bethlehem sung

  To shepherds watching at their folds by night,

  245 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

  250 Guided the wise men thither from the east,

  To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and gold,

  By whose bright course led on they found the place,

  Affirming it thy star new-grav’n in heaven,

  By which they knew thee King of Israel born.

  255 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 heard, straight I again revolved

  260 The Law and Prophets, searching what was writ

  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,

  265 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

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

  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

  275 Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed

  Me him (for it was shown 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;

  280 But as I rose out of the laving stream,

  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 Heav’n, pronounced me his,

  285 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.

  290 And now by some strong motion I am led

  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,

  295 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

  300 Accompanied of things past and to come

  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

  305 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

  310 Among wild beasts: they at his sight grew mild,

  Nor sleeping him nor waking harmed, his walk

  The fiery serpent fled, and noxious worm,

  The lion and fierce tiger glar
ed aloof.

  But now an aged man in rural weeds,

  315 Following, as seemed, the quest of some stray ewe,

  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

  320 Perused him, then with words thus uttered spake.

  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 dropped not here

  325 His carcass, pined with hunger and with drouth.

  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

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

  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.

  335 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

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

  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

  345 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

  350 Proceeding from the mouth of God; who fed

  Our fathers here with manna; in the mount

  Moses was forty days, nor ate nor drank,

  And forty days Elijah without food

  Wandered this barren waste, the same I now:

  355 Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust,

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

  Whom thus answered th’ Arch-Fiend now undisguised.

  ’Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate,

  Who leagued with millions more in rash revolt

  360 Kept not my happy station, but was driv’n

  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

  365 Large liberty to round this globe of earth,

  Or range in th’ air, nor from the Heav’n of Heav’ns

  Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.

  I came among the sons of God, when he

  Gave up into my hands Uzzéan Job

  370 To prove him, and illústrate his high worth;

  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

  375 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

  380 To love, at least contémplate and admire

  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

  385 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

  390 I lost not what I lost, rather by them

  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,

  395 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

  400 Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof,

  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,

  405 Man fall’n 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

  410 Into the Heav’n of Heavens; thou com’st indeed,

  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,

  415 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,

  420 So never more in Hell than when in Heaven.

  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

  425 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.

  430 Yet thou pretend’st to truth; all oracles

  By thee are giv’n, 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

  435 Ambiguous and with double sense deluding,

  Which they who asked have seldom understood,

  And not well understood as good not known?

  Whoever by consulting at thy shrine

  Returned the wiser, or the more instruct

  440 To fly or follow what concerned him most,

  And run not sooner to his fatal snare?

  For God hath justly giv’n the nations up

  To thy delusions; justly, since they fell

  Idolatrous; but when his purpose is

  445 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

  450 What to the smallest tittle thou shalt say

  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;

  455 No more shalt thou by oracling abuse

  The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceased,

  And thou no more with pomp and sac
rifice

  Shalt be inquired at Delphos or elsewhere,

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

  460 God hath now sent his living Oracle

  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.

  465 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

  470 But misery hath wrested from me; where

  Easily canst thou find one miserable,

  And not enforced oft-times to part from truth,

  If it may stand him more in stead to lie,

  Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure?

  475 But thou art placed above me, thou art Lord;

  From thee I can and must submiss endure

  Check 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 th’ ear,

  480 And tuneable as sylvan pipe or song;

  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)

  485 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,

  490 Praying or vowing, and vouchsafed his voice

  To Balaam reprobate, a prophet yet

  Inspired; disdain not such accéss to me.

  To whom our Saviour with unaltered brow.

  Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,

  495 I bid not or forbid; do as thou find’st

  Permission from above; thou canst not more.

  He added not; and Satan bowing low

  His grey dissimulation, disappeared

  Into thin air diffused: for now began

  500 Night with her sullen wing to double-shade

  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,

  5 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,