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 shews
And Hecatompylos her hundred gates;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings; of later fame
Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,

28.5

290

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.

295

And just in time thou com'st to have a view

Of this great power; for now the Parthian king

In Ctesiphon hath gather'd all his host

300

Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild
Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid

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

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,

300

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

He look'd, and saw what numbers numberless 310 The city gates out-pour'd, light armed troops

In coats of mail and military pride;

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,

315

284. Persepolis and Bactra, cities of Persia-Ecbatana, the capital of Media.-Hecatompylos, of Parthia.

300. Ctesiphon, was the winter residence of the Parthian kings -Sogdiana was the province most exposed to the Scythians, and nearest their country.

315. Arachosia, &c. &c. provinces of Parthia.

325

330

He saw them in their forms of battle ranged, How quick they wheel'd, and flying behind them shot Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight; The field all iron cast a gleaming brown: Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor on each horn Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight, Chariots or elephants indorsed with towers Of archers, nor of labouring pioneers A multitude, with spades and axes arm'd To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill, Or where plain was, raise hill, or overlay With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke; Mules after these, camels and dromedaries, And waggons fraught with útensils of war. Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, When Agrican with all his northern powers Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, The city of Gallaphrone, from whence to win The fairest of her sex, Angelica

335

340

His daughter, sought by many prowest knights,
Both Paynim, and the peers of Charlemain.

Such and so numerous was their chivalry;

At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presumed, 345 And to our Saviour thus his words renew'd:

That thou may'st know I seek not to engage

Thy virtue, and not every way secure

On no slight grounds thy safety; hear and mark

To what end I have brought thee hither, and shewn

All this fair sight: thy kingdom, though foretold 351

By prophet or by angel, unless thou
Endeavour, as thy father David did,
Thou never shalt obtain, prediction still
In all things, and all men, supposes means;
Without means used, what it predicts revokes.
But say thou wert possess'd of David's throne
By free consent of all, none opposite,
Samaritan or Jew; how could'st thou hope
Long to enjoy it quiet and secure,

355

360

Between two such inclosing enemies,

323. The known custom of the Parthiaus in their warfare. 327. Clouds of foot; an Homeric expression,

329. Indorsed; from the Latin in, upon, and dorsum, the back338. An allusion to Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato, B. i. Can. 10.

Roman and Parthian? therefore one of these

Thou must make sure thy own, the Parthian first
By my advice, as nearer, and of late

Found able by invasion to annoy

Thy country, and captive lead away her kings
Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound,

Maugre the Roman: it shall be my task

To render thee the Parthian at dispose:

384

Choose which thou wilt by conquest or by league. 370
By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly reinstall thee
In David's royal seat, his true successor,
Deliverance of thy brethren, those Ten Tribes
Whose offspring in his territory yet serve,
In Habor, and among the Medes dispersed ;
Ten sons of Jacob, two of Joseph lost
Thus long from Israel, serving as of old
Their fathers in the land of Egypt served,
This offer sets before thee to deliver.
These if from servitude thou shalt restore
To their inheritance, then, nor till then,
Thou on the throne of David in full glory,
From Egypt to Euphrates, and beyond,

375

380

Shalt reign, and Rome or Cæsar need not fear. 385 To whom our Saviour answer'd thus unmoved:

Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm,

And fragile arms, much instrument of war,
Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,
Before mine eyes thou hast set; and in my ear
Vented much policy, and projects deep
Of enemies, of aids, battles, and leagues,
Plausible to the world, to me worth nought.
Means I must use, thou say'st, prediction else
Will unpredict and fail me of the throne:
My time I told thee (and that time for thee
Were better farthest off) is not yet come:

396

395

When that comes, think not thou to find me slack On my part aught endeavouring, or to need

Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome
Luggage of war there shewn me, argument
Of human weakness rather than of strength.

40€

366. Hyrcanus was taken captive and carried to Seleucia,
but Antigonus was made king of the Jews.
376. 2 Kings xviii. 11.
396. John ii. 4.

My brethren, as thou call'st them, those Ten Tribes

I must deliver, if I mean to reign

David's true heir, and his full sceptre sway

To just extent over all Israel's sons.

But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then
For Israel, or for David, or his throne,
When thou stood'st up his tempter to the pride
Of numbering Israël, which cost the lives
Of threescore and ten thousand Israelites
By three days' pestilence? such was thy zeal
To Israel then, the same that now to me!

405

410

As for those captive tribes, themselves were they
Who wrought their own captivity, fell off
From God to worship calves, the deities

415

The God of their forefathers; but so died
Impenitent, and left a race behind

Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce
From Gentiles, but by circumcision vain,
And God with idols in their worship join'd.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who, freed, as to their ancient patrimony,
Unhumbled, urrepentant, unreform'd,

425

431

435

headlong would follow; and to their gods perhaps
Of Bethel and of Dan? no, let them serve
Their enemies, who serve idols with God.
Yet he at length, time to himself best known,
Remembering Abraham, by some wondrous call
May bring them back repentant and sincere,
And at their passing cleave th' Assyrian flood,
While to their native land with joy they haste;
As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,
When to the Promised Land their fathers pass'd;
To his due time and providence I leave them.

So spake Israel's true King, and to the Fiend
Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.
So fares it when with Truth Falsehood contends.

409. 1 Chron. xxi. 1.

414. See the history of the tribes in the book of Kings,
436. See Rev. xvi. 12.

440

BOOK IV.

THE ARGUMENT.

Satan, persisting in the temptation of our Lord, shews him imperial Rome in its greatest pomp and splendour, as a power which he probably would prefer before that of the Parthians; and tells him that he might with the greatest ease expel Tiberius, restore the Romans to their liberty, and make himself master not only of the Roman empire, but, by so doing, of the whole world, and inclusively of the throne of David. Our Lord, in reply, expresses his contempt of grandeur and worldly power, notices the luxury, vanity, and profi.acy, of the Romans, declaring how little they merited to be restored to that liberty which they had lost by their isconduct, and briefly refers to the greatness of his own future kingdom. Satan, now desperate, to enhance the value of his proffered gifts, professes that the only terms on which he will bestow them, are our Saviour's falling down and worshipping him. Our Lord expresses a firm but temperate indignation at such a proposition, and rebukes the tempter by the title of Satan for ever dann'd.' Satan, abashed, attempts to justify himse.f: he then assumes a new ground of temptation, and proposing to Jesus the intellectual gratifications of wisdom and knowledge, points out to him the celebrated seat of ancient learning, Athens, its schools, and other various resorts of learned teachers and their disciples; accompanying the view with a highly-finished panegyric on the Grecian musicians, poets, orators, and philosophers of the different sects. Jesus replies, by shewing the vanity and insufficiency of the boasted heathen philosophy and prefers to the music, poetry, eloquence, and didactic policy, of the Greeks, those of the inspired Hebrew writers. Satan, irritated at the failure of all his attempts, upbraids the indiscretion of our Saviour in rejecting his offers and having, in ridicule of his expected kingdom, foretold the sufferings that our Lord was to undergo, carries him back into the wilderness, and leaves him there. Night comes on: Satan raises a tremendous storm, and attempts farther to alarm Jesus with frightful dreams, and terrific threatening spectres; which however have no effect upon him. A cam, bright, beautiful morning succeeds to the horrors of the night. Satau again presents himself to our blessed Lord, and, from noticing the storm of the preceding night as pointed chiey at him, takes occasion once more to insult him with an account of the sufferings which he was certainly to undergo. This only draws from our Lord a brief rebuke. Satan, now at the height of his desperation, confesses that he had frequently watched Jesus from his birth, purposely to discover if he was the Messiah; and, collecting from what passed at the river Jordan that he most probably was so, he had from that time more assiduously followed him, in hopes of gaining some advantage over him, which would most effectually prove that he was not really that Divine Person destined to be his fatal enemy. In this he acknowledges that he has hitherto completely failed: but still determines to make one more trial of him. Accordingly he conveys him to the temple at Jerusalem, and, placing him on a pointed eminence, requires him to prove his divinity either by standing there, or casting himself down with safety. Our Lord reproves the Tempter, and at the same time manifests his own divinity by standing on this dangerous point. Satan, amazed and terrified, instantly falls; and repairs to his infernal compeers to relate the bad success of his enterprise.