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APOL. Thou hast already been unfaithful in thy service to him, and how dost thou think to receive wages of him?

CHR. Wherein, O Apollyon, have I been unfaithful to him?

APOL. Thou didst faint at first setting out, when thou wast almost choked in the Gulf of Despond; thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid of thy burden, whereas thou shouldest have stayed till thy Prince had taken it off; thou didst sinfully sleep and lose thy choice thing; thou wast also almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions; and when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what thou hast heard and seen, thou art inwardly desirous of vainglory in all that thou sayest or doest.

CHR. All this is true, and much more, which thou hast left out; but the Prince whom I serve and honor is merciful, and ready to forgive; but besides, these infirmities possessed me in thy country, for there I sucked them in, and I have groaned under them, been sorry for them, and have obtained pardon of my Prince.

APOL. Then Apollyon broke out into a grievous rage, saying, I am an enemy to this Prince; I hate his person, his laws, and people; I am come out on purpose to withstand thee.

CHR. Apollyon, beware what you do, for I am in the King's highway, the way of holiness, therefore take heed to yourself.

APOL. Then Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth of the way, and said, I am void of fear in this matter, prepare thyself to die; for I swear by my infernal den thou shalt go no further; here will I spill thy soul.

And with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast, but Christian had a shield in his hand, with which he caught it, and so prevented the danger of that.

Then did Christian draw, for he saw 'twas time to bestir him; and Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which, notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it, Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot. This made Christian give a little back; Apollyon, therefore, followed his work amain, and Christian again took courage, and resisted as man fully as he could. This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent. For you must know that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker.

Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now! and with that, he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of life. But as God would have it,

while Apollyon was fetching of his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy! when I fall, I shall arise"; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that, made at him again, saying, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors." And with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon's wings, and sped him away, that Christian saw him no more.

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By powerful charms of gold and silver led

The Lombard bankers and the Change

to waste.

Another backward to the Tower would

go,

And slowly eats his way against the wind;

But the main body of the marching foe Against the imperial palace is designed.

Now day appears; and with the day the King,

Whose early care had robbed him of his rest;

Far off the cracks of falling houses ring, And shrieks of subjects pierce his tender breast.

Near as he draws, thick harbingers of smoke

With gloomy pillars cover all the place;

Whose little intervals of night are broke By sparks that drive against his sacred face.

More than his guards his sorrows made him known,

And pious tears which down his cheeks

did shower;

The wretched in his grief forgot their own;

So much the pity of a king has power.

He wept the flames of what he loved so well,

And what so well had merited his love; For never prince in grace did more excel, Or royal city more in duty strove.

From ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL, Part I

Achitophel

Absalom and Achitophel (later known as Part I) appeared anonymously on November 17, 1681. At the moment, Charles

II was exerting every effort to secure the Catholic succession in England. The opposition, led by the Earl of Shaftesbury, was equally intent upon securing the passage of the Exclusion Bill, which would have prevented Charles's brother from succeeding to the throne, and cleared the way for the eventual accession of the King's natural son, the Duke of Monmouth.

In the poem, Monmouth figures as Absalom, Shaftesbury as Achitophel, Charles as David, Cromwell as Saul, the Roman Catholics as Jebusites, the Dissenters as Levites. "The Plot" mentioned in the following selection is the so-called Popish Plot, of which Titus Oates (Corah in the poem) had accused the Catholics, in 1678. Shaftesbury had made great capital among the populace of the charge that the Catholics had plotted to kill King Charles and put at once on the throne his brother James, who was to bring about a return of England to the faith. The poem relates that Shaftesbury persuaded Monmouth to rebellion; that the King, after taking counsel, determined to draw the sword of "justice" against his foes; and that, with the consent of the Almighty, he succeeded. The strongest satiric elements appear in the descriptions of the leaders of the rebellion: Shaftesbury as Achitophel, and George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, as Zimri. He had ridiculed Dryden as Bayes, in The Rehearsal.

Of these the false Achitophel was first, A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs and crooked counsels fit,

Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit, Restless, unfixed in principles and place, In power unpleased, impatient of dis

grace;

A fiery soul which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy body to decay
And o'er-informed the tenement of clay.
A daring pilot in extremity,

Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high,

He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit,

Would steer too nigh the sands to boast

his wit.

Great wits are sure to madness near

allied,

And thin partitions do their bounds

divide;

Else, why should he, with wealth and

honour blest,

Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? Punish a body which he could not please, Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease? And all to leave what with his toil he

won

To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a

son,

Got, while his soul did huddled notions try,

And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
In friendship false, implacable in hate,
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state;
To compass this the triple bond he broke,
The pillars of the public safety shook,
And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke;
Then, seized with fear, yet still affecting
fame,

Usurped a patriot's all-atoning name.
So easy still it proves in factious times
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
How safe is treason and how sacred ill,
Where none can sin against the people's
will,

Where crowds can wink and no offence

be known,

Since in another's guilt they find their own!

Yet fame deserved no enemy can grudge; The statesman we abhor, but praise the

judge.

In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abbethdin With more discerning eyes or hands more clean,

Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress,

Swift of despatch and easy of access.
Oh! had he been content to serve the

crown

With virtues only proper to the gown, Or had the rankness of the soil been freed

From cockle that oppressed the noble seed,

David for him his tuneful harp had

strung

And Heaven had wanted one immortal

song.

But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand,

And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.

Achitophel, grown weary to possess
A lawful fame and lazy happiness,
Disdained the golden fruit to gather free,
And lent the crowd his arm to shake the
tree.

Now, manifest of crimes contrived long since,

He stood at bold defiance with his Prince, Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws.

The wished occasion of the Plot he takes; Some circumstances finds, but more he

makes;

By buzzing emissaries fills the ears Of listening crowds with jealousies and fears

Of arbitrary counsels brought to light, And proves the King himself a Jebusite. Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well

Were strong with people easy to rebel. For, governed by the moon, the giddy

Jews

Tread the same track when she the prime

renews.

And once in twenty years their scribes

record,

By natural instinct they change their lord.

From ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL,

Part II

The Malcontents. Zimri

See the note prefixed to "Achitophel," above. In this passage, the Levites are the Presbyterian leaders, and the Solymaean rout are the rabble of London dissenters.

TO FURTHER this, Achitophel unites
The malcontents of all the Israelites,
Whose differing parties he could wisely
join

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