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?G PARADISE REGAINED. BOOK iv.
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Thofe ancient, whofe refiftlefs eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratic,
Shook th' arfenal and fulmin'd over Greece,
To Macedon and Artaxerxes throne:
To fage philofophy next lend thine ear,
From Heav'n defcended to the low-rooft houfe
Of Socrates; fee there his tenement,
Whom well infpir'd the oracle pronoune'd
Wifeii of men; from whofe mouth iffued forth
Mellifluous ftreams that water'd all the fchools
Of Academics old and new, with thofe
Surnam'd Peripatetics, and the feet
Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere; V
Thefe here revolve, or, as thou lik'ft, at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight;
Thefe rules will render thee a king complete
Within thyfelf, much more with empire join'd."
To whom our Saviour fagely thus reply'd.
" Think not but that I know thefe things, or think
J know them not ; not therefore am I ihort
Of knowing what I ought: he who receives
Light from above, from the fountain of light,
No other doctrine needs, though granted true;
But thefe are falfe, or little elfe but dreams,
Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.
The firft and wifeft of them all profefs'd
To know this only, that he nothing knew;
The next to fabling fell and fmooth conceits;
A third fort doubted all things, though plain fenfe;
Others in virtue plac'd felicity,