210

If there be worse, the expectation more
Of worse torments me than the feeling can.
I would be at the worst, worst is my port,
My harbour, and
my ultimate repose;
The end I would attain, my final good.
My error was my error, and my crime
My crime; whatever for itself condemn'd,
And will alike be punish'd, whether thou
Reign or reign not; though to that gentle brow 215
Willingly could I fly, and hope thy reign,
From that placid aspect and meek regard,
Rather than aggravate my evil state,

Would stand between me and thy father's ire,
Whose ire I dread more than the fire of hell, 220
A shelter, and a kind of shading cool

Interposition, as a summer's cloud.

225

If I then to the worst that can be haste,
Why move thy feet so slow to what is best,
Happiest both to thyself and all the world,
That thou who worthiest art should'st be their king? \
Perhaps thou linger'st in deep thoughts detain'd
Of the enterprize so hazardous and high:
No wonder, for, though in thee be united
What of perfection can in man be found,
Of human nature can receive, consider,
Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent
At home, scarce view'd the Galilean towns,
And once a year Jerusalem, few days [serve?
Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou ob-
The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,

230

240

Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts,
Best school of best experience, quickest insight
In all things that to greatest actions lead.
The wisest, unexperienc'd, will be ever
Timorous and loth, with novice modesty,
As he who seeking asses found a kingdom,
Irresolute, unhardy, unadvent'rous:

But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit
Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes
The monarchies of the earth, their pomp,

Sufficient introduction to inform

Thee of thyself so apt, in regal arts

245

and state,

And regal mysteries, that thou may'st know
How best their opposition to withstand.

250

With that, such power was given him then, he took The Son of God up to a mountain high.

It was a mountain at whose verdant feet
A spacious plain outstretch'd in circuit wide
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flow'd, 255
Th' one winding, th' other straight, and left be-
tween

Fair champain with less rivers intervein'd,
Then meeting join'd their tribute to the sea:
Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine;
With herds the pastures throng'd, with flocks the

hills;

Huge cities and high tower'd that well might seem The seats of mightiest monarchs, and so large

288 insight] Milton's own edition, and all the earlier edi tions, except Tonson's 1747

read ' in sight'

The prospect was, that here and there was room For barren desert, fountainless and dry.

To this high mountain top the tempter brought 265 Our Saviour, and new train of words began.

270

275

Well have we speeded, and, o'er hill and dale, Forest, and field, and flood, temples, and towers, Cut shorter many a league; here thou behold'st Assyria and her empire's ancient bounds, Araxes, and the Caspian lake, thence on As far as Indus east, Euphrates west, And oft beyond; to south the Persian bay, And inaccessible the Arabian drought: Here Nineveh, of length within her wall Several days' journey, built by Ninus old, Of that first golden monarchy the seat, And seat of Salmanassar, whose success Israel in long captivity still mourns; There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice Judah and all thy father David's house Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste, Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis His city there thou seest, and Bactra there Ecbatana her structure vast there shows, And Hecatompylos her hundred gates; There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,

280

;

285

264 fountainless and dry] 'Deserts desolate, and dry. Drayton's Moses, lib. ii. p. 1603, ed. 8vo.

288 Choaspes] See Plin. N. Hist. lib. xxiv. c. cii. vol. iv.

The drink of none but kings; of later fame
Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Terodon, Ctesiphon,

Turning with easy eye thou may'st behold.
All these the Parthian -now some ages past
By great Arsaces led, who founded first
That empire-under his dominion holds,
From the luxurious kings of Antioch won.
And just in time thou com'st to have a view
Of his great power; for now the Parthian king
In Ctesiphon hath gather'd all his host
Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild.
Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid

290

295

300

He marches now in haste; see, though from far, His thousands, in what martial equipage

p. 362. ed. Brot. and lib. xxxi. c. xxi. 3. vol. v. p. 299, 'Parthorum reges ex Choaspe et Eulæo tantum bibunt.'

'It is a fact worthy of remark, that at this moment, while all the inhabitants of Kermanshah drink of the stream of Aub Dedoong, and of the spring called Aubi-i-Hassan-Khan, the king's son alone has the water for himself and his harem brought from the stream of the Kara Soo (the Choaspes). We drank of it ourselves as we passed, and from its superiority to all the waters of which we had tasted since leaving the banks of the Tigris, the draught was delicious enough to be sweet even to the palsied taste of royalty itself.' Buckingham's Trav. in Assyria, &c. p. 119. On the delicious water of the Nile, see Forbes's Oriental Mem. ii. p. 72; and on that of the Ganges, 139. The Mogul Emperors travelled with it: Akber never drank any other, and called it the 'Water of Life.'

They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms,
Of equal dread in flight or in pursuit;

All horsemen, in which fight they most excel:
See how in warlike muster they appear,

In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings.

306

He look'd, and saw what numbers numberless 310 The city gates outpour'd, light armed troops In coats of mail and military pride;

315

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong,
Prancing, their riders bore, the flower and choice
Of many provinces from bound to bound;
From Arachosia, from Candaor east,
And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs

306 flight] Lucan. Phars. i. 229.

'Missa Parthi post terga sagitta.' Dunster.

309 wedges and half-moons] Virgil mentions the 'wedge; En. xii. 457. densi cuneis se quisque coactis agglomerant:' and Stat. Theb. v. 145, the half-moon; lunatumque putes agmen descendere.' Dunster.

810 numbers numberless] For this expression (which was very common in old English Poets anterior to Milton) see Peele's Works, by Dyce, sec. ed. 1829, vol. i. p. 227. 'A number numberless, appointed well

For tournament.'

and Heywood's Troy, p. 203.

811 gates] Virg. Æn. xii. 121,

-plenis

Agmina se fundunt portis.' Dunster.

814 Prancing] Compare the description in Heliodori Æthiop. lit iii. p. 175. ed. Mitscherlich.