Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups imbofs'd with gems
And ftuds of pearl, to me should'ft tell who thirst
And hunger ftill: then embaffies thou fhow'ft
From nations far and nigh; what honour that,
But tedious wafte of time to fit and hear
So many hollow complements and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'ft to talk
Of th' emperor, how eafily fubdued,
How gloriously; I shall, thou fay'ft, expel
A brutish monster: what if I withal
Expel a Devil who first made him such?
Let his tormenter confcience find him out;

121

125

130 For

ac temulentiæ caufa tenere Indiam juvat: et aurum jam acceffio eft. Or perhaps the words imboss'd with gems &c refer only to gold firft mention'd, which is no unufual conftruction. They quaff in gold imbofs'ď with gems and feuds of pearl.

130. Let his tormenter confcience

find him out;] Milton had in view what Tacitus and Suetonius have related. Tacitus Ann. VI. 6. Infigne vifum eft earum Cæfaris literarum initium; nam his verbis exorfus eft: Quid fcribam vobis P. C. aut quomodo fcribam, aut quid omnino non fcribam hoc tempore ? Dii

me

For him I was not fent, nor yet to free

That people victor once, now vile and base,
Defervedly made vaffal, who once just,

135

Frugal, and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well,
But govern ill the nations under yoke,
Peeling their provinces, exhaufted all
By luft and rapine; firft ambitious grown
Of triumph, that insulting vanity;
Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd
Of fighting beafts, and men to beasts expos'd,
Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier ftill,

me Deaque pejus perdant quam perire quotidie fentio, fi fcio. Adeo facinora atque flagitia fua ipfi quoque in fupplicium verterant. Suetonius Tiber. 67. Poftremo femet ipfe pertæfus talis epiftolæ principio tantum non fummam malorum fuorum profeffus eft: Quid fcribam &c. where perhaps it should be, tali epiftolæ principio. Fortin.

140. Of fighting beafts, and men to beafts expos'd,] The fighting beafts are a poor inftance of the Roman cruelty in their sports, in comparifon of the gladiators; who might have been introduced fo naturally, and eafily here, only by putting the word gladiators in place of the other two, that one may very well be furpriz'd at the poet's omitting them. See Seneca's 7th Epiftle.

Calton.

140

And from the daily fcene effeminate.

What wife and valiant man would feek to free
These thus degenerate, by themselves inflav'd,
Or could of inward flaves make outward free?
Know therefore when my feafon comes to fit
On David's throne, it shall be like a tree
Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,
Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash

145

All monarchies befides throughout the world, 150
And of my kingdom there fhall be no end:
Means there fhall be to this, but what the means,

Is

a tree &c; alluding to the parable of the muftard-feed grown into a tree, fo that the birds lodge in the branches thereof, Matt. XIII. 32. and to (what that parable alfo refpects) Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great tree whofe hight reached unto heaven, and the fight thereof to the end of all the earth, Dan. IV. 11. Tertullian also compares the kingdom of Christ to that of Nebuchadnezzar, See Grotius in Matt. Or as a fione &c; alluding to the ftone in another of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, which brake the image in pieces, and fo this kingdom fhall break in pieces, and confume all these kingdoms, and it shall ftand for ever. Dan. II. 44. And of my kingdom there fhall be no end: the very words of Luke I. 33. with only the neceffary change of

the

Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.

To whom the Tempter impudent reply'd.
I fee all offers made by me how flight
Thou valueft, because offer'd, and reject'st:
Nothing will please the difficult and nice,
Or nothing more than ftill to contradict :
On th' other fide know also thou, that I
On what I offer fet as high efteem,

Nor what I part with mean to give for nought;
All these which in a moment thou behold'st,
The kingdoms of the world to thee I give;
For giv'n to me, I give to whom I please,
No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else,
On this condition, if thou wilt fall down,
And worship me as thy fuperior lord,
Eafily done, and hold them all of me;
For what can lefs fo great a gift deserve?

the perfon; and of his kingdom there fhall be no end.

157. Nothing will pleafe the diffi cult and nice,] Mr. Jortin and Mr. Sympfon fay that perhaps we fhould read

thee difficult and nice: but I think the ictus falls better in the common reading, and the

155

160

165

Whom thus our Saviour anfwer'd with difdain.

I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers lefs,

171

Now both abhor, fince thou haft dar'd to utter

175

Th' abominable terms, impious condition;
But I indure the time, till which expir'd,
Thou haft permiffion on me. It is written
The first of all commandments, Thou fhalt worip
The Lord thy God, and only him fhalt ferve;
And dar'ft thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee accurs'd, now more accurs'd
For this attempt bolder than that on Eve,
And more blafphemous? which expect to rue.
The kingdoms of the world to thee were given,
Permitted rather, and by thee ufurp'd;
Other donation none thou canst produce:
If giv'n, by whom but by the king of kings,
God over all fupreme? if giv'n to thee,

troduction of this incident in this place. The Tempter fhould have propofed the condition, at the fame time that he offer'd the gifts; as he doth likewife in Scripture: but after his gifts had been abfolutely refus'd, to what purpofe was it to propofe the impious condition? Could he imagin that our VOL. I.

180

185