Appearing and beginning noble deeds,

Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne, 100
Now made a stye, 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 prophesy'd 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,

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110

Much less my mind; though thou should'st add to tell

Their sumptuous gluttonies and gorgeous feasts
On citron tables or Atlantick stone,

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115 citron tables or Atlantick stone] Citron wood grew on Mount Atlas, and was held by the Romans as valuable as gold. Martial Ep. xiv. 89. Accipe felices Atlantica munera, sylvas.' Atlantick stone, the Commentators say, was never heard of; nor can they explain the meaning of the expression: had the mantle therefore of Bentley descended on me, I should read

and gorgeous feasts

On citron tables or Atlantic, stor'd.'

I can find no account of Atlantic marble in the learned work of Cariophylus de Ant. Marmoribus.-Since writing the above, I believe that I have detected the true meaning of Atlantic stone, which has escaped the Commentators. Pliny mentions that the woods of Atlas were eagerly searched by the Romans for citron wood and ivory. Hist. Nat. lib. v. c. i. 1. vol. i. p. 366, ed. Brot. 'quàm luxuriæ, cujus efficacissima vis sentitur atque maxima, cùm ebori citroque silvæ

(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 119
And studs of pearl; to me should'st tell who thirst
And hunger still. Then embassies thou show'st
From nations far and nigh. What honour 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 subdu'd,
How gloriously; I shall, thou say'st, expel

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exquirantur.' Diod. Siculus joins them, lib. v. c. xlvi. vol. iii. p. 355, ed. Bip. ' τά δε θυρώματα τοῦ ναοῦ θαυμαστὰς ἔχει τὰς κατασκευὰς ἐξ ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐλέφαντος, ἔτι δὲ θύους δεδημιουργημένας ; so the author of the Apocalypse, xvii. 12. πᾶν ζύλον θυΐνον, καὶ πᾶν σκέυος ἐλεφάντινον; Suidas and Pausanias also mention them together. We may, therefore, consider Atlantick stone' to be a learned and poetical way for naming the 'Ebor Atlanticum;' and Pliny also says, that the forests in Mauritania were filled with elephants, lib. v. c. i. 1. vol. i. p. 364, the same forests which afforded the citron wood. Should stone' be still thought a singular expression for ivory, it may be observed, that 'fossil ivory' might have been sought for; and that Pliny, lib. xxxvi. c. xxix. 18, vol. vi. p. 230, mentions a mineral ivory, which he calls a stone.

115 Citron tables, &c.] ' Citrus arbor in Atalante Mauritaniæ monte nascitur, ex qua olim faciebant lectos fores et mensas, quas eboreis pedibus fulcientes feminæ, viris contra margaritas regerebant. Cato in ea, quam habuit, oratione, ne quis consul bis fieret: Dicere possum, quibus villæ atque ædes ædificatæ atque expolitæ maximo opere, citro, atque ebore, atque pavimentis Panicis stent.' Aus. Popma Not. in Fragm. Varronis, ed. Bipont. p. 349.

119 myrrhine] Plinii N. Hist. lib. xxxv. c. xlvi. vol. vi. p. 172. 'Quoniam eò pervenit luxuria, ut etiam fictilia pluris constent quam murrhina.'

A brutish monster: what if I withal
Expel a devil who first made him such?
Let his tormentor conscience find him out;
For him I was not sent; nor yet to free
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
But lust and rapine; first ambitious grown
Of triumph, that insulting vanity;

Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd

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Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd; 140
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

141 Luxurious] Manilius, iv. 10.

Luxuriamque lucris emimus, luxuque rapinas.' Dunster.

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150

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Thou valu'st, 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,
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, giv'n 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?

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Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain. 170

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

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The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship
The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;
And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee accurst, now more accurst
For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve,
And more blasphemous? which expect to rue.
The kingdoms of the world to thee were giv'n,

157 the difficult] Jortin and Sympson would read 'thee difficult.'

180

Permitted rather, and by thee usurp'd;
Other donation none thou canst produce:
If giv'n, 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.

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To whom the fiend with fear abash'd replied. 195 Be not so sore offended, Son of God,

Though sons of God both angels are and men,
If I, to try whether in higher sort

Than these thou bear'st that title, have propos'd
What both from men and angels I receive,
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 so fatal, me it most concerns.
The trial hath indamag'd thee no way,
Rather more honour left and more esteem;
Me naught 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.

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