Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.
Yet if for fame and glory ought be done,
Ought suffer'd; if young African for fame
His wasted country freed from Punic rage,
The deed becomes unprais'd, the man at least,
And loses, though but verbal, his reward.
Shall I seek glory then, as vain men seek,
Oft not deserv'd? I seek not mine, but his
Who sent me', and thereby witness whence I am.
To whom the Tempter murm'ring thus replied.
Think not so slight of glory; therein least

Much suff'ring heroes next their
honours claim,

Those of less noisy, and less guilty

fame,

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105

I honour my Father, I seek not mine own glory, says our Saviour in St. John's Gospel, viii. 49, 50: and this he urgeth as a proof of his divine mission, vii. 18. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

109. Think not so slight of glory; &c.] There is nothing throughout the whole poem more expressive of the true character of the Tempter than this reply. There is in it all the real falsehood of the father of lies, and the glozing subtlety of an insidious deceiver. The argument is false and unsound, and yet it is veiled over with a certain plausible air of truth. The poet has also by introducing this furnished himself with an opportunity of explaining that great question in divinity, why God created the world, and what is meant by that glory which he expects from his creatures. This may be no improper place to observe to the reader the author's great art in

Resembling thy great Father: he seeks glory,
And for his glory all things made, all things
Orders and governs; nor content in heaven
By all his angels glorified, requires

Glory from men, from all men good or bad,
Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption;
Above all sacrifice, or hallow'd gift
Glory' he requires, and glory he receives
Promiscuous from all nations, Jew, or Greek,
Or barbarous, nor exception hath declar'd;
From us his foes pronounc'd glory' he exacts.
To whom our Saviour fervently replied.

weaving into the body of so short a work so many grand points of the Christian theology and morality. Thyer.

118. Promiscuous from all nations,] The poet puts here into the mouth of the Devil the absurd notions of the apologists for Paganism. See Themistius, Orat. xii. de Relig. Valent. Imp. TauTa νομιζε γενέσθαι &c. p. 160. War

burton.

See the Divine Legation, b. ii. sect. vi. vol. ii. p. 308. ed. 1811, and the note on that passage, for several instances of persons professing these notions. Dunster.

121. To whom our Saviour fervently replied.] As this poem consists chiefly of a dialogue between the Tempter and our Saviour, the poet must have laboured under some difficulty in composing a sufficient variety of introductory lines to the several speeches, and it required great art and judgment to vary and adapt them so properly as he hath done to the subject in hand.

110

115

120

We took notice of a beauty of this kind in a note upon ii. 432: and here we have another instance not unworthy of our observation. When the Tempter had proposed to our Saviour the baits and allurements of glory, he was nothing moved, but replied with great calmness and composure of mind, ver. 43.

To whom our Saviour calmly thus replied:

but now the Tempter reflects upon the glory of God, our Saviour is warmed upon the occasion, and answers with some eagerness and fervour.

To whom our Saviour fervently replied.

And this is perfectly just, and agreeable to the true character of our Saviour, who was all meekness and forbearance in every thing that related to himself, but where God's honour was concerned, was warm and zealous ; as when he drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple, in

And reason; since his word all things produc'd,
Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,
But to show forth his goodness, and impart
His good communicable to every soul
Freely; of whom what could he less expect
Than glory' and benediction, that is thanks,
The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense
From them who could return him nothing else,
And not returning that would likeliest render
Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?
Hard recompense, unsuitable return

For so much good, so much beneficence.

But why should man seek glory, who' of his own
Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs
But condemnation, ignominy', and shame?
Who for so many benefits receiv'd
Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false,
And so of all true good himself despoil'd,
Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take

somuch that the disciples applied to him the saying of the Psalmist, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, John ii. 17.

128. The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense] The same sentiment in the Paradise Lost, iv. 46.

What could be less than to afford him praise,

125

130

135

140

which spoils the sense of the passage.

138. recreant] Shakespeare has the word, K. John, act iii. s. 2. And Spenser, Faery Qu. b. ii. c. vi. 28. where Mr. Warton observes, that recreant knight is a term of romance, citing a passage from the Morte Arthur. Recreant, or recreditus, in the

The easiest recompense, and pay him feudal signification, imported the

thanks,

How due!

130. And not returning that] We have replaced the reading of the first edition: most of the later editions have it

And not returning what

highest degree of treason, baseness, and cowardice. Du Cange says, "probrosum adeo censuit vocabulum ut illud describere noluerit Radulphus de Glanvilla." Dunster.

That which to God alone of right belongs;
Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,
That who advance his glory, not their own,
Them he himself to glory will advance.

So spake the Son of God; and here again
Satan had not to answer, but stood struck
With guilt of his own sin, for he himself
Insatiable of glory had lost all,
Yet of another plea bethought him soon.

Of glory, as thou wilt, said he, so deem,
Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass:
But to a kingdom thou art born, ordain'd
To sit upon thy father David's throne;
By mother's side thy father; though thy right
Be now in pow'rful hands, that will not part
Easily from possession won with arms:
Judæa now and all the promis'd land,
Reduc'd a province under Roman yoke,
Obeys Tiberius; nor is always rul'd

151. Worth or not worth the seeking,] In all the editions which I have seen except the first, it is printed

Worth or not worth their seeking, but the first edition exhibits this reading,

Worth or not worth the seeking.

158. Reduc'd a province under Roman yoke,] Judæa was reduced to the form of a Roman province, in the reign of Augustus, by Quirinius or Cyrenius, then governor of Syria; and Coponius, a Roman of the equestrian order, was appointed to go

145

150

155

vern it under the title of Procurator of Judæa; our Saviour being then (as Dean Prideaux says) in the twelfth year of his age, but according to the vulgar æra, which begins four years later than the true time, it was A.D. 8. Nor is always rul'd with temp'rate sway: and indeed the Roman government was not always the most temperate. At this time Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judæa; and if history be true, he was a most corrupt and flagitious governor. See particularly Philo de Legatione ad Caium.

159. It is there related of Pi

With temp❜rate sway; oft have they violated
The temple, oft the law with foul affronts,
Abominations rather, as did once
Antiochus: and think'st thou to regain
Thy right by sitting still or thus retiring?
So did not Maccabeus: he indeed
Retir'd unto the desert, but with arms;
And o'er a mighty king so oft prevail'd,