BooK IV. PARADISE REGAIN'D. Of Socrates ; fee there his tenement, Whomwell infpir'd the oracle pronounc'd 275 Wifefl of men ; from whole mouth iffued forth Mellifluous fireams that water'd all the fchools Of Academics old and new, with thole Sirnarn'd Peripatetics, and the fed Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere ; 280 Thefe here revolve, or, as thou 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, ;85 Think not but that I know thefe things, or think I know them not ; not therefore am 1 lima Of knowing what I ought : he who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other dodrine needs, though granted true ; 290 But thefe are falfe, or little elfe but dreams, Conjetures, fancies, built on nothing firm. The fit ft and wifeft of them all profefs'd To know this only, that he nothing knew ; The next to fabling fell and fmooth conceits ; 295 A third fort doubted all things, though plain fenfe ; Others in virtue plac'd felicity, But virtue join'd with riches and long life ; In corporal pleafure he, and carelefs cafe ; The Stoic tall in philofophic pride, 30o By him call'd virtue ; and his virtuous man, Wife, perfed in himfelf, and all poffefling, Equals to God, oft Thames not to prefer, As fearing God nor man, contemning all Wealth, pleafure, pain or torment, death and life, 305 Which when he lifts he leaves, or boafis he can, For all his tedious talk is but vain boaft, Or fubtie fhifts convidion to evade, 535 Ala*
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