Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/305

 BOOK SECOND

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��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 offered first To idols those young Daniel could refuse ; Nor proffered by an enemy though who Would scruple that, with want oppressed ?

Behold, 331

Nature ashamed, or, better to express, Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath

purveyed

From all the elements her choicest store, 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

bad end,

Our Saviour, lifting up his eyes, beheld, In ample space under the broadest shade, A table richly spread in regal mode, 340 With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort And savour beasts of chase, or fowl of

game,

In pastry built, or from the spit, or boiled, Grisamber-steamed; all fish, from sea or

shore,

Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin, And exquisitest name, for which was

drained

Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast Alas ! how simple, to these cates compared, Was that crude Apple that diverted Eve ! And at a stately sideboard, by the wine, 350 That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood Tall stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more, Under the trees now tripped, now solemn

stood,

Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's

horn,

And ladies of the Hesperides, that seemed Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since Of faery damsels met in forest wide By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, 360 Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore. And all the while harmonious airs were

heard Of chiming strings or charming pipes;

and winds

Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest

smells. Such was the splendour; and the Tempter

now His invitation earnestly renewed:

��" What doubts the Son of God to sit and

eat?

These are not fruits forbidden; no inter- dict

Defends the touching of these viands pure; Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil, 37 i

But life preserves, destroys life's enemy, Hunger, with sweet restorative delight. All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and

springs,

Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their

Lord. What doubt'st thou, Son of God? Sit

down and eat."

To whom thus Jesus temperately re- plied: " Said'st thou not that to all things I had

right ?

And who withholds my power that right to use ? 3 8o

Shall I receive by gift what of my own, When and where likes me best, I can com- mand ?

I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou, Command a table in this wilderness, And call swift flights of Angels ministrant, Arrayed in glory, on my cup to attend: Why shouldst thou, then, obtrude this dili- gence

In vain, where no acceptance it can find ? And with my hunger what hast thou to

do?

Thy pompous delicacies I contemn, 390 And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but

guiles."

To whom thus answered Satan, male- content: " That I have also power to give thou

seest;

If of that power I bring thee voluntary What I might have bestowed on whom I

pleased,

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. Of these things others quickly will dispose, Whose pains have earned the far-fet spoil." With that HOI

Both table and provision vanished quite, With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard ;

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