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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