Women, when nothing else, beguil'd the heart
Of wisest Solomon, and made him build,
And made him bow to the gods of his wives.
To whom quick answer Satan thus return'd.
Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st
All others by thy self; because of old
Thou thy self doat'dst on woman-kind, admiring
Their shape, their colour, and attractive grace,
None are, thou think'st, but taken with such toys.
Before the flood thou with thy lusty crew,
False titled sons of god, roaming the earth,
Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men,
And coupled with them, and begot a race.
Have we not seen, or by relation heard,
In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st,
In wood or grove by mossy fountain side,
In valley or green meadow, to way-lay
Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene,
Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa,
Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more
Too long, then lay'st thy scapes on names ador'd, Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,
Satyr, or fawn, or sylvan? but these haunts
Delight not all; among the sons of men,
How many
have with a smile made small account
Of beauty and her lures, easily scorn'd
All her assaults, on worthier things intent?
134 mossy] Virg. Ecl. vii. 45. Muscosi fontes.'
Remember that Pellean conqueror,
A youth, how all the beauties of the east
He slightly view'd, and slightly overpass'd;
How he surnam'd of Africa dismiss'd
In his prime youth the fair Iberian maid.
For Solomon, he liv'd at ease, and full
Of honour, wealth, high fare, aim'd not beyond
Higher design than to enjoy his state;
Thence to the bait of women lay expos'd:
But he whom we attempt is wiser far
Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,
Made and set wholly on the accomplishment
Of greatest things; what woman will you find,
Though of this age the wonder and the fame,
On whom his leisure will vouchsafe an eye
Of fond desire? or should she confident,
As sitting queen ador'd on beauty's throne,
Descend with all her winning charms begirt
To enamour, as the zone of Venus once
Wrought that effect on Jove, so fables tell;
How would one look from his majestick brow,
Seated as on the top of virtue's hill,
196 Pellean] Henry More's Poems, p. 251.
'Where's Nimrod now, and dreadful Hannibal ?
Where's that ambitious pert Pellean lad?'
204 bait] Spens. F. Q. v. viii. 1.
'Beauty's lovely bait.'
216 majestick brow] Milton's Prose Works (of Reformation) by Symmons, vol. i. p. 54. And buy and sell the awful, and majestick wrinkles of her brow.'
Discount'nance her despis'd, and put to rout
All her array; her female pride deject,
Or turn to reverent awe? for beauty stands
In the admiration only of weak minds
Led captive. Cease to admire, and all her plumes
Fall flat and shrink into a trivial toy,
At every sudden slighting quite abash'd :
Therefore with manlier objects we must try
His constancy, with such as have more show
Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise;
Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd;
Or that which only seems to satisfy
Lawful desires of nature, not beyond;
And now I know he hungers where no food
Is to be found, in the wide wilderness :
The rest commit to me, I shall let pass
No advantage, and his strength as oft assay.
He ceas'd, and heard their grant in loud acclaim:
Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band
Of spirits, likess to himself in guile,
To be at hand, and at his beck appear,
If cause were to unfold some active scene
Of various persons each to know his part;
Then to the desert takes with these his flight;
Where still from shade to shade the Son of God
229 oftest] Milton's own edition, oftest,' the others' often.'
232 wide] In most editions falsely printed 'wild.'
After forty days fasting had remain'd,
Now hung'ring first, and to himself thus said.
Where will this end? four times ten days I've
pass'd
Wand'ring this woody 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
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 hung'ring more to do my father's will.
It was the hour of night, when thus the Son 260 Commun'd in silent walk, then laid him down Under the hospitable covert nigh
Of trees thick interwoven; there he slept,
And dream'd, as appetite is wont to dream,
Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment
Him thought, he by the brook of Cherith stood,
262 hospitable] Hor. Od. ii. 3. 9.
'Umbram hospitalem consociare amant
and Virg. Georg. iv. 24. Dunster.
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
Into the desert, and how there he slept
Under a juniper: then how, awak'd,
He found his supper on the coals prepar'd,
And by the angel was bid rise and eat,
And eat the second time after repose,
The strength whereof suffic'd 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 herald lark
Left his ground-nest, high tow'ring 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 wak'd.
Up to a hill anon his steps he rear'd,
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,
267 horny] Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 36.
Aves excelsæ, cruribus rigidis, corneo proceroque rostro.'
287 cottage] Ap. Rhod. iv. 1247.
Οὐ πάτον, οὐκ ἀπάνευθε καταυγάσσαντο βοτήρα
Αυλιον, εὐκήλῳ δὲ κατέσχετο πάντα γαλήνῃ.
|