The Complete Poetry of John Milton (136 page)

   285     
Up to a hill anon his steps he rear’d,

               
From whose high top to ken the prospect round,

               
If Cottage were in view, Sheep-cote or Herd;

               
But Cottage, Herd or Sheep-cote none he saw,

               
Only in a bottom saw a pleasant Grove,

   290     
With chaunt of tuneful Birds resounding loud;

               
Thither he bent his way, determin’d there

               
To rest at noon, and enter’d soon the shade

               
High rooft and walks beneath, and alleys brown

               
That open’d in the midst a woody Scene,

   295     
Natures own work it seem’d (Nature taught Art)

               
And to a Superstitious eye the haunt

               
Of Wood-Gods and Wood-Nymphs; he view’d it round,

               
When suddenly a man before him stood,

               
Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,

   300     
As one in City, or Court, or Palace bred,

               
And with fair speech these words to him address’d.

           
      
       With granted leave officious I return,

               
But much more wonder that the Son of God

               
In this wild solitude so long should bide

   305     
Of all things destitute, and well I know,

               
Not without hunger. Others of some note,

               
As story tells, have trod this Wilderness;

               
The Fugitive Bond-woman
²¹
with her Son

               
Out cast
Nebaioth
, yet found he relief

   310     
By a providing Angel; all the race

               
Of
Israel
here had famish’d, had not God

               
Rain’d from Heav’n Manna,
²²
and that Prophet
²³
bold

               
Native of
Thebez
wandring here was fed

               
Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.

   315     
Of thee these forty days none hath regard,

               
Forty and more deserted here indeed.

           
      
       To whom thus Jesus; what conclud’st thou hence?

               
They all had need, I as thou seest have none.

           
      
       How hast thou hunger then? Satan reply’d,

   320     
Tell me if Food were now before thee set,

               
Would’st thou not eat? Thereafter as I like

               
The giver, answer’d Jesus. Why should that

               
Cause thy refusal, said the subtle Fiend,

               
Hast thou not right to all Created things,

   325     
Owe not all Creatures by just right to thee

               
Duty and Service, nor to stay till bid,

               
But tender all their power? nor mention I

               
Meats by the Law unclean, or offer’d first

               
To Idols, those young
Daniel
could refuse;

   330     
Nor proffer’d by an Enemy, though who

               
Would scruple that, with want opprest? behold

               
Nature asham’d, or better to express,

               
Troubl’d that thou shouldst hunger, hath purvey’d

               
From all the Elements her choicest store

   335     
To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord

               
With honour, only deign to sit and eat.

           
      
       He spake no dream, for as his words had end,

               
Our Saviour lifting up his eyes beheld

               
In ample space under the broadest shade

   340     
A Table richly spred, in regal mode,

               
With dishes pil’d, and meats of noblest sort

               
And savour, Beasts of chase, or Fowl of game,

               
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boyl’d,

               
Gris-amber-steam’d; all Fish from Sea or Shore,

   345     
Freshet, or purling Brook, of shell or fin,

               
And exquisitest name, for which was drain’d

               
Pontus
and
Lucrine
Bay,
²⁴
and
Afric
Coast.

               
Alas how simple, to these Cates compar’d,

               
Was that crude Apple that diverted
Eve!

   350     
And at a stately side-board by the wine

               
That fragrant smell diffus’d, in order stood

               
Tall stripling youths rich clad, or fairer hew

               
Then
Ganymed
or
Hylas
,
²⁵
distant more

               
Under the Trees now trip’d, now solemn stood

   355     
Nymphs of
Dianas
train, and
Naiades

               
With fruits and flowers from
Amalthea
’s horn,
²⁶

               
And Ladies of th’
Hesperides
,
²⁷
that seem’d

               
Fairer then feign’d of old, or fabl’d since

               
Of Fairy Damsels met in Forest wide

   360     
By Knights of
Logres
, or of
Lyones
,

               
Lancelot
or
Pelleas
, or
Pellenore
,
²⁸

               
And all the while Harmonious Airs were heard

               
Of chiming strings, or charming pipes and winds

               
Of gentlest gale
Arabian
odors fann’d

   365     
From their soft wings, and
Flora
’s
²⁹
earliest smells.

               
Such was the Splendour, and the Tempter now

               
His invitation earnestly renew’d.

           
      
       What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?

               
These are not Fruits forbidd’n, no interdict

   370     
Defends
³⁰
the touching of these viands pure,

               
Thir taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,

               
But life preserves, destroys life’s enemy,

               
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

               
All these are Spirits of Air, and Woods, and Springs,

   375     
Thy gentle Ministers, who come to pay

               
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee thir Lord:

               
What doubt’st thou Son of God? sit down and eat.

           
      
       To whom thus Jesus temperately reply’d:

               
Said’st thou not that to all things I had right?

   380     
And who withholds my pow’r that right to use?

               
Shall I receive by gift what of my own,

               
When and where likes me best, I can command?

               
I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,

               
Command a Table in this Wilderness,

   385     
And call swift flights of Angels ministrant

               
Array’d in Glory on my cup t’ attend:

               
Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence,

               
In vain, where no acceptance it can find,

               
And with my hunger what hast thou to do?

   390     
Thy pompous Delicacies I contemn,

               
And count thy specious gifts no gifts but guiles.

           
      
       To whom thus answer’d Satan malecontent:

               
That I have also power to give thou seest,

               
If of that pow’r I bring thee voluntary

   395     
What I might have bestow’d on whom I pleas’d,

               
And rather opportunely in this place

               
Chose to impart to thy apparent need,

               
Why shouldst thou not accept it? but I see

               
What I can do or offer is suspect;

   400     
Of these things others quickly will dispose

               
Whose pains have earn’d the far-fet
³¹
spoil. With that

               
Both Table and Provision vanish’d quite

               
With sound of Harpies wings, and Talons heard;

               
Only the importune Tempter still remain’d,

   405     
And with these words his temptation pursu’d.

           
      
       By hunger, that each other Creature tames,

               
Thou art not to be harm’d, therefore not mov’d;

               
Thy temperance invincible besides,

               
For no allurement yields to appetite,

   410     
And all thy heart is set on high designs,

               
High actions; but wherewith to be atchiev’d?

               
Great acts require great means of enterprise,

               
Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,

               
A Carpenter thy Father known, thy self

   415     
Bred up in poverty and streights at home;

               
Lost in a Desert here and hunger-bit:

               
Which way or from what hope dost thou aspire

               
To greatness? whence Authority deriv’st,

               
What Followers, what Retinue canst thou gain,

   420     
Or at thy heels the dizzy Multitude,

               
Longer then thou canst feed them on thy cost?

               
Money brings Honour, Friends, Conquest, and Realms;

               
What rais’d
Antipater
the
Edomite
,

               
And his Son
Herod
plac’d on
Juda
’s Throne;

   425     
(Thy throne) but gold that got him puissant friends?

               
Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,

               
Get Riches first, get Wealth, and Treasure heap,

               
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me,

               
Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand;

   430     
They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,

               
While Virtue, Valour, Wisdom sit in want.
³²

           
      
       To whom thus Jesus patiently reply’d;

               
Yet Wealth without these three is impotent,

               
To gain dominion or to keep it gain’d.

   435     
Witness those antient Empires of the Earth,

               
In highth of all thir flowing wealth dissolv’d:

               
But men endu’d with these have oft attain’d

               
In lowest poverty to highest deeds;

               
Gideon
and
Jephtha
, and the Shepherd lad,
³³