The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems
Page 69
Kingdom nor empire, pleases thee, nor aught
By me proposed in life contemplative
Or active, tended on by glory or fame,
What dost thou in this world? The wilderness
For thee is fittest place! I found thee there,
And thither will return thee. Yet remember
What I foretell thee. Soon thou shalt have cause
To wish thou never had’st rejected, thus
Nicely7209 or cautiously, my offered aid,
Which would have set thee in short time with ease
On David’s throne, or throne of all the world,
Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season,
When prophecies of thee are best fulfilled.
Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heav’n,
Or Heav’n write aught of Fate, by what the stars
Voluminous,7210 or single characters
In their conjunction met, give me to spell,7211
Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,
Attends thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries,
Violence and stripes7212 and, lastly, cruel death.
A kingdom they portend7213 thee, but what kingdom,
Real or allegoric, I discern7214 not,
Nor when. Eternal sure—as without end,
Without beginning, for no date prefixed
Directs7215 me in the starry rubric7216 set.”
So saying, he took ( for still he knew his power
Not yet expired), and to the wilderness
Brought back the Son of God, and left him there,
Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose,
As daylight sunk, and brought in louring7217 night,
Her shadowy offspring, unsubstantial both,
Privation mere7218 of light and absent day.
Our Savior, meek,7219 and with untroubled mind
After his airy jaunt,7220 though hurried sore,7221
Hungry and cold betook him to his rest,
Wherever, under some concourse7222 of shades
Whose branching arms thick intertwined might shield
From dews and damps of night his sheltered head,
But sheltered, slept in vain, for at his head
The Tempter watched, and soon with ugly dreams
Disturbed his sleep. And either Tropic7223 now
’Gan thunder, and both ends of Heav’n. The clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive7224 poured
Fierce rain with lightning mixed, water with fire,
In ruin7225 reconciled,7226 nor slept the winds
Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad
From the four hinges of the world and fell
On the vexed7227 wilderness, whose tallest pines,
Though rooted deep as high,7228 and sturdiest oaks,
Bowed their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,
Or torn up sheer.7229 Ill wast thou shrouded7230 then,
O patient Son of God, yet only stood’st
Unshaken! Nor yet stayed7231 the terror there.
Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round
Environed thee: some howled, some yelled, some shrieked,
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Sat’st unappalled 7232 in calm and sinless peace.
Thus passed the night so foul, till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim steps, in amice7233 gray,
Who with her radiant finger stilled the roar
Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid 7234 the winds
And grisly7235 specters, which the fiend had raised
To tempt7236 the Son of God with terrors dire.
And now the sun with more effectual7237 beams
Had cheered the face of earth, and dried the wet
From drooping plant, or dropping tree. The birds,
Who all things now behold more fresh and green,
After a night of storm so ruinous,
Cleared up7238 their choicest notes in bush and spray,7239
To gratulate7240 the sweet return of morn.
Nor yet, amidst this joy and brightest morn,
Was absent, after all his mischief done,
The Prince of darkness—glad would also seem
Of this fair change, and to our Savior came,
Yet with no new device7241 (they all were spent),
Rather by this his last affront 7242 resolved,7243
Desperate of better course, to vent his rage
And mad despite7244 to be so oft repelled.
Him walking on a sunny hill he found,
Backed on the north and west by a thick wood.
Out of the wood he starts in wonted7245 shape,
And in a careless7246 mood thus to him said:
“Fair morning yet betides7247 thee, Son of God,
After a dismal night. I heard the wrack,7248
As earth and sky would mingle, but myself
Was distant, and these flaws,7249 though mortals fear them
As dangerous to the pillared frame of Heav’n,
Or to the earth’s dark basis underneath,
Are to the main7250 as inconsiderable
And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze
To man’s lesser universe,7251 and soon are gone.
Yet, as being oft-times noxious7252 where they light
On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent,
Like turbulencies in the affairs of men
(Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point),7253
They oft fore-signify and threaten ill.
“This tempest at this desert most was bent,7254
Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell’st.
Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject
The perfect season7255 offered with my aid
To win thy destined seat, but wilt prolong
All to the push7256 of Fate, pursue thy way
Of gaining David’s throne no man knows when
(For both the when and how is nowhere told):
Thou shalt be what thou art ordained, no doubt,
For Angels have proclaimed it, but concealing
The time and means. Each act is rightliest done
Not when it must, but when it may be best.
If thou observe not this, be sure to find
What I foretold thee, many a hard assay7257
Of dangers, and adversities, and pains,
Ere thou of Israel’s scepter get fast hold,
Whereof this ominous7258 night that closed thee round,
So many terrors, voices, prodigies,7259
May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign.”
So talked he, while the Son of God went on,
And stayed not, but in brief him answered thus:
“Me worse than wet thou find’st not. Other harm
Those terrors which thou speak’st of did me none.
I never feared they could, though noising loud
And threat’ning nigh. What they can do as signs
Betokening or ill-boding I contemn
As false portents, not sent from God, but thee,
Who knowing I shall reign past thy preventing,
Obtrud’st thy offered aid, that I, accepting,
At least might seem to hold all power of thee,
Ambitious Spirit, and would’st be thought my God,
And storm’st,7260 refused, thinking to terrify
Me to thy will! Desist (thou art discerned,
And toil’st in vain), nor me in vain molest.”
To whom the fiend, now swoll’n with rage, replied:
“Then hear, O Son of David, virgin-born!
For Son of God to me is yet in doubt.
Of the Messiah I have heard foretold
By all the prophets; of thy birth, at length
Announced by Gabriel, with the first I knew,
And of th’ Angelic song in Bethlehem field
On thy birth-night, that sung thee Savior born.<
br />
“From that time seldom have I ceased to eye
Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,
Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred,
Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all
Flocked to the Baptist, I among the rest
(Though not to be baptized), by voice from Heav’n
Heard thee pronounced the Son of God beloved.
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view
And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree7261 or meaning thou art called
The Son of God, which bears no single sense.
The Son of God I also am, or was,
And if I was, I am. Relation stands:
All men are Sons of God. Yet thee I thought
In some respect far higher so declared.
“Therefore I watched thy footsteps from that hour,
And followed thee still on to this waste wild,
Where by all best conjectures I collect
Thou art to be my fatal enemy.
Good reason, then, if I beforehand seek
To understand my adversary, who
And what he is, his wisdom, power, intent,
By parle 7262 or composition,7263 truce or league,
To win him, or win from him what I can.
“And opportunity I here have had
To try thee, sift 7264 thee, and confess have found thee
Proof against all temptation, as a rock
Of adamant and as a center, firm
To th’ utmost of mere man both wise and good,
Not more, for honors, riches, kingdoms, glory,
Have been before contemned,7265 and may again.
Therefore, to know what more thou art than man,
Worth naming the Son of God by voice from Heav’n,
Another method I must now begin.”
So saying, he caught him up and, without wing
Of hippogrif,7266 bore through the air sublime,7267
Over the wilderness and o’er the plain,
Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,
The Holy City, lifted high her towers,
And higher yet the glorious Temple reared
Her pile,7268 far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topped with golden spires.
There on the highest pinnacle, he set
The Son of God, and added thus in scorn:
“There stand, if thou wilt stand. To stand upright
Will ask 7269 thee skill. I to thy Father’s house
Have brought thee, and highest placed: highest is best.
Now show thy progeny! 7270 If not to stand,
Cast thyself down—safely, if Son of God,
For it is written, ‘He will give command
Concerning thee to His Angels; in their hands
They shall uplift thee, lest at any time
Thou chance to dash7271 thy foot against a stone. ’”7272
To whom thus Jesus: “Also it is written,
‘Tempt not the Lord thy God. ’” He said, and stood,
But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.
As when Earth’s son, Antaeus7273 (to compare
Small things with greatest), in Irassa7274 strove
With Jove’s Alcides7275 and, oft foiled,7276 still rose,
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,
Throttled at length in th’ air, expired and fell,
So after many a foil, the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see 7277 his victor fall.
And as that Theban monster7278 that proposed
Her riddle and, him who solved it not, devoured,
That7279 once found out and solved, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian7280 steep,
So strook7281 with dread and anguish fell the fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals7282 of his hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
So Satan fell, and straight a fiery globe7283
Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumey vans7284 received him7285 soft
From his uneasy7286 station,7287 and upbore,
As on a floating couch, through the blithe7288 air,
Then, in a flow’ry valley, set him down
On a green bank, and set before him spread
A table of celestial food, divine
Ambrosial fruits fetched from the Tree of Life,
And from the fount of life ambrosial drink,
That soon refreshed him, wearied, and repaired7289
What hunger, if aught hunger, had impaired,7290
Or thirst. And, as he fed, Angelic choirs
Sung Heavenly anthems7291 of his victory
Over temptation and the Tempter proud:
“True Image of the Father, whether throned
In the bosom of bliss, and light of light
Conceiving, or remote from Heav’n, enshrined
In fleshly tabernacle 7292 and human form,
Wand’ring the wilderness—whatever place,
Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing
The Son of God, with Godlike force endued7293
Against th’ attempter of thy Father’s throne
And thief of Paradise! Him long of old
Thou didst debel,7294 and down from Heav’n cast
With all his army. Now thou hast avenged
Supplanted7295 Adam and, by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise,
And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.
He never more henceforth will dare set foot
In Paradise to tempt. His snares are broke.
For though that seat of earthly bliss be failed,
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou,
A Savior, art come down to reinstall,
Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be,
Of Tempter and temptation without fear.
“But thou, Infernal Serpent! shalt not long
Rule in the clouds. Like an autumnal star,
Or lightning, thou shalt fall from Heav’n, trod down
Under his feet. For proof, ere this thou feel’st
Thy wound (yet not thy last and deadliest wound)
By this repulse received, and hold’st in Hell
No triumph. In all her gates7296 Abaddon7297 rues
Thy bold attempt. Hereafter learn with awe
To dread the Son of God. He, all unarmed,
Shall chase thee, with the terror of his voice,
From thy demoniac holds, possession foul—
Thee and thy legions. Yelling they shall fly,
And beg to hide them in a herd of swine,
Lest he command them down into the deep,
Bound, and to torment7298 sent before their time.
“Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds,
Queller7299 of Satan! On thy glorious work
Now enter, and begin to save mankind.”
Thus they the Son of God, our Savior meek,
Sung victor and, from Heav’nly feast refreshed,
Brought on his way with joy. He, unobserved,
Home to his mother’s house private7300 returned.
SAMSON AGONISTES7301
date uncertain: everything from 1646 to 1670 has been proposed
OF THAT SORT OF DRAMATIC POEM
WHICH IS CALLED TRAGEDY
Tragedy, as it was anciently composed, hath been ever held the gravest,7302 moralest, and most profitable of all other poems—therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge the mind of those and such like passions. That i
s, to temper7303 and reduce7304 them to just,7305 with a kind of delight, stirred up by reading or seeing those passions well imitated.
Nor is Nature wanting7306 in her own effects7307 to make good his assertion, for so, in physic,7308 things of melancholic hue and quality are used against melancholy, sour against sour, salt to remove salt humors.7309 Hence philosophers and other gravest writers, as Cicero, Plutarch and others, frequently cite out of 7310 tragic poets, both to adorn and illustrate their discourse. The Apostle Paul himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides7311 into the text of Holy Scripture (I Cor. 15:33 ), and Paraeus,7312 commenting on the Revelation, divides the whole book as a tragedy, into acts distinguished each by a chorus of Heavenly harpings and song between.7313
Heretofore men in highest dignity have labored not a little to be thought able to compose a tragedy. Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less ambitious, then7314 before of his attaining to the Tyranny.7315 Augustus Caesar also had begun his Ajax, but unable to please his own judgment with what he had begun, left it unfinished. Seneca the philosopher is by some thought the author of those tragedies (at least the best of them) that go under that name. Gregory Nazianzen,7316 a Father of the Church, thought it not unbe-seeming the sanctity of his person to write a tragedy, which he entitled, Christ Suffering.
This is mentioned to vindicate tragedy from the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it undergoes at this day, with other common interludes7317 —happening through the poets’ error of intermixing comic stuff with tragic sadness7318 and gravity, or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious7319 hath been counted absurd, and brought in without discretion, corruptly to gratify the people. And though ancient tragedy use no prologue (yet using sometimes, in case of self defense or explanation, that which Martial calls an “epistle”), in behalf of this tragedy coming forth after the ancient manner, much different from what among us passes for best, thus much beforehand may be “epistled.”
The chorus is here introduced after the Greek manner, not ancient only but modern, and still in use among the Italians. In the modelling therefore of this poem, with good reason, the ancients and Italians are rather followed, as of much more authority and fame. The measure7320 of verse used in the chorus is of all sorts, called by the Greeks monostrophic, or rather apolelymenon,7321 without regard had to strophe, antistrophe or epode (which were a kind of stanza framed only for the music, then7322 used with the chorus that sung; not essential to the poem, and therefore not material)7323 or being divided into stanzas or pauses, they may be call’d allaeostropha.7324 Division into act and scene, referring chiefly to the stage (to which this work never was intended), is here omitted.