2 68
��PARADISE REGAINED
��Perhaps thou linger'st in deep thoughts de- tained
Of the enterprise so hazardous and high ! No wonder; for, though in thee be united What of perfection can in Man be found, Or human nature can receive, consider 231 Thy life hath yet been private, most part
spent
At home, scarce viewed the Galilean towns, And once a year Jerusalem, few days' Short sojourn; and what thence couldst
thou observe ? The world thou hast not seen, much less
her glory, Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant
courts Best school of best experience, quickest in
sight
In all things that to greatest actions lead. The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever 240 Timorous, and loth, with novice modesty (As he who, seeking asses, found a king- dom)
Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous. But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt
quit
Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes The monarchies of the Earth, their pomp
and state
Sufficient introduction to inform Thee, of thyself so apt, in regal arts, And regal mysteries; that thou may'st
know
How best their opposition to withstand." With that (such power was given him
then), he took 251
The Son of God up to a mountain high. It was a mountain at whose verdant feet A spacious plain outstretched in circuit
wide Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers
flowed, The one winding, the other straight, and
left between
Fair champaign, with less rivers inter- veined, Then meeting joined their tribute to the
sea.
Fertil of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine ; With herds the pasture thronged, with
flocks the hills; 260
Huge cities and high - towered, that well
might seem The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so
large
��The prospect was that here and there was
room
For barren desert, fountainless and dry. To this high mountain-top the Tempter
brought
Our Saviour, and new train of words be- gan: " 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 be-
hold'st 269
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 drouth: 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; 279 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 shews, And Hecatompylos her hunderd 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 291 Artaxata, Teredon, 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 gathered 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,
�� �
