They themselves rather are occasion best; Zeal of thy father's house, duty to free Thy country from her heathen servitude. So shalt thou best fulfil, best verify
The prophets old, who sung thy endless reign; The happier reign, the sooner it begins:
Reign then; what canst thou better do the while?" To whom our Savior answer thus return'd. * All things are best fulfill'd in their due time; And time there is for all things, Truth hath said. If of my reign prophetic writ hath told, That it shall never end, so, when begin, The Father in his purpose hath decreed;
He in whose hand all times and seasons roll. What if he hath decreed that I shall first Be tried in humble state, and things adverse, By tribulations, injuries, insults,
Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence, Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting, Without distrust or doubt, that he may know What I can suffer, how obey? Who best Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first Well hath obey'd; just trial, ere I merit My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee, when I begin My everlasting kingdom? Why art thou Solicitous? What moves thy inquisition? Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall, And my promotion will be thy destruction ?"
To whom the tempter, inly rack'd, replied. "Let that come when it comes; all hope is lost Of my reception into grace: what worse? For where no hope is left, is left no fear: If there be worse, the expectation more Of worse torments me than the feeling can. I would be at the worst: worst is my port, My harbor, and my ultimate repose; The end I would attain, my final good. My error was my error, and my crime My crime; whatever, for itself condemn'd; And will alike be punish'd, whether thou Reign, or reign not; though to that gentle brow Willingly could I fly, and hope thy reign, From that placid aspéct and meek regard, Rather than aggravate my evil state,
Would stand between me and thy Father's ire, (Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell,) A shelter, and a kind of shading cool Interposition, as a summer's cloud.
If I then to the worst that can be haste, Why move thy feet so slow to what is best, Happiest, both to thyself and all the world, That thou, who worthiest art, shouldst be their king? Perhaps thou linger'st, in deep thoughts detain'd 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, Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent At home, scarce view'd the Galilean towns, And once a year Jerusalem, few days' [serve? Short sojourn; and what thence couldst thou ob- The world thou hadst not seen, much less her glory, Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts, Best school of best experience, quickest insight In all things that to greatest actions lead The wisest, unexperienc'd, will be ever Timorous and loth; with novice modesty, (As he who, seeking asses, found a kingdom,) Irresolute, unhardy, unadventurous:
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 their best opposition to withstand." With that. (such power was given him then,) he The Son of God up to a mountain high.
It was a mountain at whose verdant feet A spacious plain, outstretch'd in circuit wide, Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flow'd, The one winding, the other straight, and left between Fair champaign with less rivers interven'd, Then meeting join'd their tribute to the sea: Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine; With herds the pastures throng'd, with flocks the hills; Huge cities and high-tower'd, 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 Savior, and new train of words began.
"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 behold'st 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 drought: 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 ; 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 shows, 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, 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 gather'd all his host 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,
In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings He look'd, and saw what numbers numberless 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, And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs
Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales; From Atropatia and the neighboring plains Of Adiabene, Media, and the south Of Susiana, to Balsara's haven.
He saw them in their forms of battle rang'd, 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 indors'd with towers Of archers; nor of laboring 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 wagons, fraught with útensils of war. Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, When Agrican with all his northern powers Besieg'd Albracca, as romances tell, The city of Gallaphrone, from whence to win The fairest of her sex Angelica,
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 presum'd, And to our Savior 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 shown All this fair sight: thy kingdom, though foretold By prophet or by angel, unless thou Endeavor, as thy father David did, Thou never shalt obtain; prediction still In all things, and all men, supposes means; Without means us'd, 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 couldst thou hope Long to enjoy it, quiet and secure, Between two such inclosing enemies,
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; Choose which thou wilt, by conquest or by league: By him thou shalt regain, without him not, That which alone can truly re-install 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 dispers'd: Ten sons of Jacob, two of Joseph, lost Thus long from Israel, serving, as of old Their fathers in the land of Egypt serv'd, 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,
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 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: When that comes, think not thou to find me slack On my part aught endeavoring, or to need Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome Luggage of war there shown me, argument Of human weakness rather than of strength. 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! As for those captive tribes, themselves were they Who wrought their own captivity, fell off From God to worship calves, the deities Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth, And all the idolatries of heathen round, Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes; Nor in the land of their captivity Humbled themselves, or penitent besought 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, unrepentant, unreform'd, Headlong would follow; and to their gods perhaj. 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 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 his wiles. So fares it, when with truth falsehood contends.
Satan, persisting in the temptation of our Lord, shows him imperial Rome in its greatest pomp and splendor, 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,
fernal compeers to relate the bad success of his enterprise. Angels in the mean time convey our blessed Lord to a beautiful valley, and, while they minister to him a repast of celestial food, celebrate his victory in a triumphant hymn.
in reply, expresses his contempt of grandeur and worldly power, notices the luxury, vanity, and PERPLEX'D and troubled at his bad success profligacy of the Romans, declaring how little The tempter stood, nor had what to reply, they merited to be restored to that liberty, which Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope they had lost by their misconduct, and briefly re- So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric fers to the greatness of his own future kingdom. That sleek'd his tongue, and won so much on Eve: Satan, now desperate, to enhance the value of his So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve; proffered gifts, professes that the only terms, on This far his over-match, who, self-deceiv'd which he will bestow them, are our Savior's fall- And rash, beforehand had no better weigh'd ing down and worshipping him. Our Lord ex- The strength he was to cope with, or his own: presses a firm but temperate indignation at such But as a man, who had been matchless held a proposition, and rebukes the tempter by the title In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought, of Satan for ever damned." Satan, abashed, To salve his credit, and for every spite, attempts to justify himself: he then assumes a Still will be tempting him who foils him still, new ground of temptation, and proposing to Jesus And never cease, though to his shame the more: the intellectual gratifications of wisdom and Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time, knowledge, points out to him the celebrated seat About the wine-press where sweet must is pour'd, of ancient learning, Athens, its schools, and other Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound; various resorts of learned teachers and their dis- Or surging waves against a solid rock, ciples; accompanying the view with a highly- Though all to shivers dash'd, the assault renew finished panegyric on the Grecian musicians, po- (Vain battery!) and in froth or bubbles end; ets, orators and philosophers of the different sects. So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse Jesus replies, by showing the vanity and insuf- Met ever, and to shameful silence brought, ficiency of the boasted heathen philosophy; and Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success, prefers to the music, poetry, eloquence and didac- And his vain importunity pursues. the policy of the Greeks, those of the inspired He brought our Savior to the western side Hebrew writers. Satan, irritated at the failure Of that high mountain, whence he might behold of all his attempts, upbraids the indiscretion of Another plain, long, but in breadth not wide, our Savior in rejecting his offers; and, having, in ridicule of his expected kingdom, foretold the suf- ferings 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 further to alarm Jesus with frightful dreams, and terrific threatening spectres; which, however, have no effect upon him. A calm, bright, beautiful morning succeeds to the horrors of the night. Satan again presents him- self to our blessed Lord, and, from noticing the storm of the preceding night as pointed chiefly at him, takes occasion once more to insult him with an account of the sufferings which he was cer- tainly to undergo. This only draws from our Lord a brief rebuke. Satan, now at the height of his desperation, confesses that he had frequent- "The city which thou seest, no other deem ly watched Jesus from his birth, purposely to dis- Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the Earth, cover if he was the true Messiah; and, collecting So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd from what passed at the river Jordan that he most Of nations; there the Capitol thou seest, probably was so, he had from that time more as- Above the rest lifting his stately head siduously followed him, in hopes of gaining some On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel advantage over him, which would most effectual- Impregnable, and there mount Palatine ly prove that he was not really that Divine Per- The imperial palace, compass huge and high son destined to be his "fatal enemy." In this he The structure, skill of noblest architects, acknowledges that he has hitherto completely With gilded battlements conspicuous far, failed; but still determines to make one more Turrets, and terraces, and glittering spires: trial of him. Accordingly he conveys him to the Many a fair edifice besides, more like Temple at Jerusalem, and, placing him on a point- Houses of Gods, (so well I have dispos'd ed eminence, requires him to prove his divinity My aery microscope,) thou may'st behold, either by standing there, or casting himself down Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs, with safety. Our Lord reproves the tempter, and Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd artificers,
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 blast; thence in the midst 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 height of mountains interpos'd: (By what strange parallax, or optic skill Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass Of telescope, were curious to inquire :) And now the tempter thus his silence broke.
at the same time manifests his own divinity by In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.
standing on this dangerous point. Satan, amazed Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see and terrified, instantly falls; and repairs to his in-What conflux issuing forth, or entering in;
Pretors, 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 the Emilian; some from farthest south, Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, Meroe, Nilotic isle; and, more to west, 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,
That people, victor once, now vile and base; Deservedly made vassal; who, once just, Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well, But govern ill the nations under yoke, Peeling their provinces, exhausted all By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown Of triumph, that insulting vanity;
Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still, And from the daily scene effeminate,
What wise and valiant man would seek to free These, thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd? Or could of inward slaves make outward free? Know therefore, when my season comes to sit On David's throne, it shall be like a tree Spreading and overshadowing all the Earth; Or as a stone, that shall to pieces dash All monarchies besides throughout the world; And of my kingdom there shall be no end : Means there shall be to this; but what the means Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell." To whom the tempter, impudent, replied. I see all offers made by me how slight Thou valuest, because offer'd, and reject'st: Nothing will please the difficult and nice, Or nothing more than still to contradict: On the other side know also thou, that I On what I offer set as high esteem,
And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer Before the Parthian. These two thrones except, 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 favorite
All public cares, and yet of him suspicious; Hated of all, and hating. With what ease, Endued with regal virtues, as thou art, Appearing, and beginning noble deeds, Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne, Now made a sty, 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 prophesied 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,
Nor what I part with mean to give for nought; All these, which in a moment thou behold'st, The kingdoms of the world, to thee I give, (For, given to me, I give to whom I please,) No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else, On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, And worship me as thy superior lord, (Easily done,) and hold them all of me; For what can less so great a gift deserve ?"
Whom thus our Savior answer'd with disdain. "I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less; Now both abhor, since thou hast dar'd to utter The abominable terms, impious condition: But I endure the time, till which expir'd Thou hast permission on me. It is written, The first of all commandments, Thou shalt wor ship
The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;' And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound To worship thee accurs'd? now more accurs'd For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve,
Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to And more blasphemous; which expect to rue.
Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts On citron tables or Atlantic stone, (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 And studs of pearl; to me shouldst tell, who thirst And hunger still. Then embassies thou show'st From nations far and nigh: what honor 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 subdued, How gloriously: I shall, thou say'st, expel A brutish monster; what if I withal Expel a devil who first made him such? Let his tormenter conscience find him out; For him I was not sent; nor yet to free
The kingdoms of the world to thee were given? Permitted rather, and by thee usurp'd;
Other donation none thou canst produce.
If given, by whom but by the King of kings, God over all supreme? If given to thee, By thee how fairly is the giver now Repaid! But gratitude in thee is lost
Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame, As offer them to me, the Son of God? To me my own, on such abhorred pact, That I fall down and worship thee as God? Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st That Evil-one, Satan for ever damn'd."
Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the Earth, Nations beside from all the quarter'd winds, God of this world invok'd, and world beneath: Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold To me most fatal, me it most concerns; The trial hath endamag'd thee no way, Rather more honor left and more esteem; Me nought advantag'd, missing what I aim'd. Therefore let pass, as they are transitory, The kingdoms of this world; I shall no more Advise thee; gain them as thou canst, or not. And thou thyself seem'st otherwise inclin'd Than to a worldly crown; addicted more To contemplation and profound dispute, As by that early action may be judg'd,
To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne: To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear, From Heaven descended to the low-roof'd house Of Socrates; see there his tenement, Whom well inspir'd the oracle pronounc'd Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth Mellifluous streams, that water'd all the schools Of academics old and new, with those Surnamed Peripatetics, and the sect Epicurean, and the Stoic severe;
These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home, Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight; These rules will render thee a king complete Within thyself, much more with empire join'd." To whom our Savior sagely thus replied. Think not but that I know these things, or think I know them not; not therefore am I short Of knowing what I ought: he, who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light,
When, slipping from thy mother's eye, thou went'st" Alone into the temple, there was found Among the gravest rabbies, disputant
On points and questions fitting Moses' chair,
Teaching, not taught. The childhood shows the man, No other doctrine needs, though granted true;
As morning shows the day: be famous then By wisdom; as thy empire must extend, So let extend thy mind o'er all the world In knowledge, all things in it comprehend. All knowledge is not couch'd in Moses' law, The Pentateuch, or what the prophets wrote; The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach To admiration, led by Nature's light, And with the Gentiles much thou must converse, Ruling them by persuasion, as thou mean'st; Without their learning, how wilt thou with them, Or they with thee, hold conversation meet? How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes? Error by his own arms is best evinc'd.
Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount. Westward, much nearer by south-west, behold Where on the Ægean shore a city stands, Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil; Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,
City or suburban, studious walks and shades. See there the olive-grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long; There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound
Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls
But these are false, or little else but dreams, Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. The first and wisest of them all profess'd To know this only, that he nothing knew; The next to fabling fell, and smooth conceits; A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense; Others in virtue plac'd felicity,
But virtue joined with riches and long life; In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease; The Stoic last in philosophic pride, By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man, Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer, As fearing God nor man, contemning all Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life, Which, when he lists, he leaves, or boasts he can, For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts conviction to evade. Alas! what can they teach and not mislead, Ignorant of themselves, of God much more, And how the world began, and how man fell Degraded by himself, on grace depending? Much of the soul they talk, but all awry, And in themselves seek virtue; and to themselves All glory arrogate, to God give none; Rather accuse him under usual names, Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite
Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these True wisdom, finds her not: or, by delusion,
His whispering stream: within the walls, then view Far worse, her false resemblance only meets,
The schools of ancient sages; his who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world,
Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next:
There shalt thou hear and learn the secret power Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit
By voice or hand; and various-measur'd verse, Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,
And his, who gave them breath, but higher sung, Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer call'd, Whose poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own: Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd In brief sententious precepts, while they treat Of fate and chance, and change in human life, High actions and high passions best describing: Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece
An empty cloud. However, many books, Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not
A spirit and judgment equal or superior,
(And what he brings what needs he elsewhere seek?) Uncertain and unsettled still remains, Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys
And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge; As children gathering pebbles on the shore. Or, if I would delight my private hours With music or with poem, where so soon As in our native language, can I find That solace? All our law and story strew'd With hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, Our Hebrew songs and harps, in Babylon That pleas'd so well our victor's ear, declare That rather Greece from us these arts deriv'd;
Ill imitated, while they loudest sing
The vices of their deities, and their own,
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