25

Met ever, and to shameful silence brought,
Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.
He brought our Saviour to the western side
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long, but in breadth not wide,
Wash'd by the southern sea, and on the north
To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills,
That screen'd the fruits of the earth and seats of men
From cold Septentrion blasts; thence in the midst 31
Divided by a river, of whose banks
On each side an imperial city stood,
With towers and temples proudly elevate
On seven small hills, with palaces adorn’d,
Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts,
Statues, and trophies, and triumphal arcs,
Gardens, and groves presented to his eyes,
Above the highth of mountains interpos’d :
(By what strange parallax or optick skill
Of vision, multiply'd through air, or glass
Of telescope, were curious to enquire :)
And now the tempter thus his silence broke.

The city which thou seest, no other deem
Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth 45

35

40 50

55

So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd
Of nations; there the capitol thou see'st
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable, and there mount Palatine,
Th’ imperial palace, compass huge, and high
The structure, skill of noblest architects,
With gilded battlements conspicuous far,
Turrets, and terraces, and glittering spires.
Many a fair edifice besides, more like
Houses of gods, (so well I have dispos’d
My aery microscope,) thou mayst behold
Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs,
Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd artificers
In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.
Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see
What conflux issuing forth, or ent’ring in,
Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces
Hasting, or on return, in robes of state;
Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power,
Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings;
Or embassies from regions far remote
In various habits on the Appian road,
Or on th’ Emilian; some from farthest south,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
Meroe, Nilotic isle; and more to west,

60

65

70 75

80

The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea ;
From the Asian kings and Parthian, among these,
From India and the golden Chersonese,
And utmost Indian isle Taprobane,
Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreath'd :
From Gallia, Gades, and the British west,
Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians north
Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool.
All nations now to Rome obedience

pay;
To Rome's great emperor, whose wide domain
In ample territory, wealth and power,
Civility of manners, arts, and arms,
And long renown, thou justly may’st prefer
Before the Parthian; these two thrones except, 85
The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shar'd among petty kings too far remov'd.
These having shown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This emperor hath no son, and now is old,
Old and lascivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Capreæ, an island small but strong
On the Campanian shore, with purpose there
His horrid lusts in private to enjoy ;
Committing to a wicked favourite
All public cares, and yet of him suspicious;
Hated of all and hating: with what ease,
Indu'd with regal virtues as thou art,

90

95 105

Appearing and beginning noble deeds, .
Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne, 100
Now made a stye, and, in his place ascending,
A victor people free from servile yoke?
And with my help thou may’st; to me the power
Is given, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim therefore at no less than all the world;
Aim at the highest; without the highest attain'd
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long,
On David's throne, be prophesy'd what will.

To whom the Son of God unmov'd replied.
Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
More than of arms before, allure mine eye,
Much less my mind ; though thou should'st add to

tell Their sumptuous gluttonies and gorgeous feasts On citron tables or Atlantick stone,

110

115

6

115 citron tables or Atlantick stone] Citron wood grew on Mount Atlas, and was held by the Romans as valuable as gold. Martial Ep. xiv. 89. “Accipe felices Atlantica munera, sylvas.' Atlantick stone, the Commentators say, was never heard of; nor can they explain the meaning of the expression: had the mantle therefore of Bentley descended on me, I should read

(For I have also heard, perhaps have read,)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups emboss'd with gems 119
And studs of pearl; to me should'st tell who thirst
And hunger still. Then embassies thou show'st
From nations far and nigh. What honour that,
But tedious waste of time to sit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries ? then proceed'st to talk
Of the emperor, how easily subdu'd,
How gloriously ; I shall, thou say’st, expel

125

exquirantur.' Diod. Siculus joins them, lib. v. c. xlvi. vol. iii. p. 355, ed. Βip. “τα δε θυρώματα του ναού θαυμμαστάς έχει τας κατασκευάς εξ αργύρου και χρυσού και ελέφαντος, έτι δε θύους δεδημιουργημένας ; so the author of the Apocalypse, xvii. 12. πάν ζύλον θυΐνον, και πάν σκέυος ελεφάντινον; Suidas and Pausanias also mention them together. We may, therefore, consider • Atlantick stone' to be a learned and poetical way for naming the • Ebor Atlanticum;' and Pliny also says, that the forests in Mauritania were filled with elephants, lib. v. c. i. 1. vol. i. p. 364, the same forests which afforded the citron wood. Should 6 stone' be still thought a singular expression for ivory, it may be observed, that “fossil ivory' might have been sought for; and that Pliny, lib. xxxvi. c. xxix. 18, vol. vi. p. 230, mentions a mineral ivory, which he calls a stone.

115 Citron tables, &c.] Citrus arbor in Atalante Mauritaniæ monte nascitur, ex qua olim faciebant lectos fores et mensas, quas eboreis pedibus fulcientes feminæ, viris contra margaritas regerebant. Cato in ea, quam habuit, oratione, ne quis consul bis fieret: Dicere possum, quibus villæ atque ædes ædificatæ atque expolitæ maximo opere, citro, atque ebore, atque pavimentis Pænicis stent.' Aus. Popma Not, in Fragm. Varronis, ed. Bipont. p. 319.

119 myrrhine] Plinii N. Hist. lib. xxxv. c. xlvi. vol. vi. p. 172. «Quoniam eò pervenit luxuria, ut etiam fictilia pluris constent quam murrhina.'

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VOL. II.