To me was pleafing; all my mind was fet
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do
What might be public good; myself I thought
Born to that end, born to promote all truth, 205
All righteous things: therefore above my years,
The law of God I read, and found it sweet,
Made it my whole delight, and in it
To fuch perfection, that ere yet my age
Had meafur'd twice fix years, at our great
I went into the temple, there to hear
The teachers of our law, and to propose

δε του

Οξυ δ' αναβήσας, ταχινοί
ήλθον τελοι.
Αλλ' ετι παιδιος των εφρασσας
παλία τελεία.

Swift was thy growth, and early
was thy bloom,
But earlier wisdom crown'd thy
infant days.
Fortin.
Henry Stephens's tranflation of
the latter verfe is very much to
our purpose,

Verum ætate, puer, digna es meditatus adulta:

or rather his more paraphraftical
tranflation,

Verum ætate puer, puerili haud
more folebas
Ludere; fed jam tum tibi feria
cuncta placebant,

grew

feaft 210

What

What might improve my knowledge or their own;
And was admir'd by all: yet this not all

To which my fpi'rit aspir'd; victorious deeds 215
Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts, one while
To rescue Ifrael from the Roman yoke,
Then to fubdue and quell o'er all the earth
Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,
Till truth were freed, and equity restor❜d :
Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly first
By winning words to conquer willing hearts,
And make perfuafion do the work of fear

220

At

-victorque volentes Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo.

Our author was always a declar'd enemy to perfecution, and a friend to liberty of confcience. He rifes above himself, whenever he speaks of the fubje&t; and he must have felt it very ftrongly, to have exprefs'd it fo happily. For as Mr. Thyer juftly remarks upon this paffage, there is a peculiar foft nefs and harmony in these lines, exactly fuited to that gentle spirit of love that breathes in them; and that man muft have an inquifeel the force of them. fitorial spirit indeed who does not

222.-to conquer willing hearts,] Virgil Georg. IV. 561.

At least to try, and teach the erring foul
Not wilfully mif-doing, but unware

Misled; the stubborn only to fubdue.

225

These growing thoughts my mother foon perceiving By words at times caft forth inly rejoic'd,

And faid to me apart, High are thy thoughts

O Son, but nourish them and let them foar 239
To what highth facred virtue and true worth
Can raise them, though above example high;
By matchlefs deeds express thy matchless Sire,
For know, thou art no fon of mortal man;
Though men esteem thee low of parentage, 235
Thy father is th' eternal King who rules

All Heav'n and Earth, Angels and Sons of men ;
A meffenger from God foretold thy birth
Conceiv'd in me a virgin, he foretold

226.-the stubborn only to fubdue.]

Thou

the negligence of the former editors and printers, who have not fo muchas corrected the Errata pointed out to them by Milton himself, but have carefully followed all the blunders of the first edition, and increared the number with new ones of their own. This paffage affords an inftance. In all the editions we read

-the ftubborn only to destroy;

We cannot fufficiently condemn and this being good fenfe, the

miftake

扒

Thou should'st be great, and fit on David's throne,
And of thy kingdom there should be no end. 241
At thy nativity a glorious quire

Of Angels in the fields of Bethlehem fung
To shepherds watching at their folds by night,
And told them the Meffiah now was born

245

Where they might see him, and to thee they came, Directed to the manger where thou lay'st,

For in the inn was left no better room:

A star, not seen before, in Heav'n appearing
Guided the wife men thither from the east, 250
To honor thee with incenfe, myrrh, and gold,
By whose bright courfe led on they found the place,
Affirming it thy ftar new grav'n in Heaven,
By which they knew the king of Ifrael born.
Juft Simeon and prophetic Anna, warn'd

mistake is not fo eafily detected: but in the first edition the reader is defired in the table of Errata for deftroy to read fubdue; and if we confider it, this is the more proper word, more fuitable to the humane and heavenly character of the fpeaker; and befides it anfwers to the fubdue and quell in ver. 218. The fon of man came not to deftroy mens lives &c. Luke IX. 56.

227. my mother foon perceiving inly rejoic'd,]

Virgil. En. I. 502.

255 By

By vision, found thee in the temple', and spake
Before the altar and the vested priest,

Like things of thee to all that prefent ftood.
This having heard, ftrait I again revolv'd
The law and prophets, fearching what was writ 260
Concerning the Meffiah, to our scribes
Known partly, and foon found of whom they
fpake

I am; this chiefly, that my way muft lie
Through many a hard assay ev'n to the death,
Ere I the promis'd kingdom can attain,
Or work redemption for mankind, whose fins
Full weight must be transferr'd upon my head.

265