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Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreform'd,

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,)
Rememb'ring Abraham, by some wondrous call
May bring them back repentant and sincere,
And at their passing cleave the Assyrian flood,
While to their native land with joy they haste,
As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,
When to the promis'd 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.

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PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK IV.

PERPLEX'D and troubled at his bad success The tempter stood, nor had what to reply, Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric

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That sleek'd his tongue, and won so much on Eve, 5
So little here, nay lost: but Eve was Eve;
This far his over-match, who, self-deceiv'd
And rash, before-hand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own:
But as a man, who had been matchless held
In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought,
To salve his credit, and for very spite,
Still will be tempting him who foils him still,
And never cease, though to his shame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,
About the wine-press where sweet must is pour'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock,
Though all to shivers dash'd, the assault renew,
Vain batt'ry, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse

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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,

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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.

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The city which thou seest, no other deem Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth 45 31 septentrion] See Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 10, p. 844, ed. 8vo. From the septentrion cold.'

35 seven] Virg. Georg. ii. 535.

'Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces.' Newton.

45 queen] Rutilii Itin. i. 47.

‘Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi.' Dunster.

In the Ode to Rome, falsely attributed to Erinna, that city is termed 'Saiqqwv avaσoa.' ver. 2. A. Dyce.

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,

56 gods] Some editions read incorrectly' God! 66 turms] Virg. Æn. v. 560.

'Equitum turmæ.' Newton.

71 Nilotic] Martial Ep. vi. 80.

'Nilotica tellus.' Dunster.

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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,

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And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer
Before the Parthian; these two thrones except,

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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,

72 Black-moor] Hor. Od. ii. vi. 3.

'Ubi Maura sempe.

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Estuat unda.'

Dunster.

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