Shall I receive by gift what of my own,

When and where likes me beft, 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 Array'd .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 haft thou to do? 390 Thy pompous Delicacies I contemn,

And count thy fpecious gifts no gifts but guiles.

To whom thus answer'd Satan malecontent:
That I have alfo power to give thou seest,
If of that pow'r I bring thee voluntary
What I might have bestow'd on whom I pleas'd,
And rather opportunely in this place
Chofe to impart to thy apparent need,
Why shouldst thou not accept it? but I fee
What I can do or offer is fufpect;

400 of these things others quickly will dispose

Whose pains have earn'd the far fet fpoil. With that
Both Table and Provision vanish't quite

With found of Harpics wings, and Talons heard;
Only the importune Tempter ftill remain'd,
And with these words his Temptation pursu’d.

By hunger, that each other Creature tames,
Thou art not to be harm'd, therefore not mov'd;
Thy temperance invincible befides,

For no allurement yields to appetite,

410 And all thy heart is set on high designs,
High actions; but wherewith to be atchiev'd?
Great acts require great means of enterprise,

H 2

Thou

Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of Birth,
A Carpenter thy Father known, thy self -
Bred up in poverty and ftreights at home;
Loft in a Defart here and hunger-bit :

Which way or from what hope doft thou afpire
To greatnefs? whence Authority deriv't,
What Followers, what Retinue canft thou gain,
420 Or at thy heels the dizzy Multitude,

Longer than thou canft feed them on thy cost?
Money brings Honour, Friends, Conquest and Realms;
What rais'd Antipater the Edomite,

And his Son Herod plac'd on Juda's Throne;

(Thy throne) but gold that got him puissant friends?
Therefore, if at great things thou would'st arrive,
Get Riches first, get Wealth, and Treasure heap,
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me,

Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand;
430 They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,
While Vertue, Valour, Wisdom fit in want.

440

To whom thus Jefus patiently reply'd; .
Yet Wealth without these three is impotent,
To gain dominion or to keep it gain'd.
Witness those ancient Empires of the Earth,
In highth of all their flowing wealth diffolv'd:
But men endu'd with thefe, have oft attain'd
In lowest poverty to highest deeds;

Gideon and Jephtha, and the Shepherd lad,
Whofe off-fpring on the Throne of Judah fat
So many Ages, and fhall yet regain

That feat, and reign in Ifrael without end.

Among the Heathen, (for throughout the World
To me is not unknown what hath been done
Worthy of Memorial) canft thou not remember

Quintius,

Quintus, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus ?

For I esteem those names of men so poor

Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
Riches though offer'd from the hand of Kings.
45° And what in me feems wanting, but that I
May alfo in this poverty as foon

Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?
Extol not Riches then, the toyl of Fools,

The wife mans cumbrance, if not fnare, more apt
To flacken Vertue, and abate her edge,
Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise.
What if with like averfion I reject

Riches and Realms; yet not for that a Crown,
Golden in fhew, is but a wreath of thorns,
460 Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and fleepless nights
To him who wears the Regal Diadem,
When on his shoulders each mans burden lies;
For therein ftands the Office of a King,
His Honour, Vertue, Merit and chief Praise,
That for the Publick all this weight he bears.
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Paffions, Defires, and Fears, is more a King;
Which every wife and vertuous man attains :
And who attains not, ill aspires to rule
47° Cities of men, or head-strong multitudes,
Subject himself to Anarchy within,

Or lawless Paffions in him which he ferves.
But to guide Nations in the way of truth
By faving Doctrine, and from errour 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're the body only reigns,
And oft by force, which to a generous mind

480 So reigning can be no fincere delight.

Besides to give a Kingdom hath been thought
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
Far more magnanimous, than to affume.
Riches are needlefs then, both for themselves,
And for thy reason why they should be fought,
To gain a Scepter, oftest better miss't.

Paradise Regain'd.

S

BOOK. III.

O fpake the Son of God, and Satan stood
A while as mute confounded what to say,
What to reply, confuted and convinc't
Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift;
At length collecting all his Serpent wiles,
With foothing words renew'd, him thus accofts.

I fee thou know'ft what is of ufe to know,
What best to say canft fay, to do canft do;
Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words
to To thy large heart give utterance duc, thy heart
Contains of good, wife, juft, the perfect shape.
Should Kings and Nations from thy mouth consult,
Thy Counsel would be as the Oracle

Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems
On Aaron's breaft: or tongue of Seers old
Infallible; or wert thou fought to deeds
That might require th' array of war, thy skill
Of conduct would be fuch, that all the world
Could not sustain thy Prowess, or subsist

20 In battel, though against thy few in arms.
Thefe God-like Vertues wherefore doft thou hide?
Affecting private life, or more abfcure
In favage VVilderness, wherefore deprive
All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thy felf

The